Because there has to be an intellectual engine of the movement.

Of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research. Malcolm X

Professor Elizabeth Hinton finds herself reenergized to achieve her goals each time she reads that quote. In 2017, Hinton, a professor at Yale, published From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America, in which she examined the implementation of federal law enforcement programs beginning in the mid-1960s, formulating a system of mass incarceration of Black American citizens. Hinton says her book inspired her to transfer her education from the campusto the community to work directly with law enforcement, community groups and nonprofits.

Hinton, 36, grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, believing that she would be a lawyer, having been influenced by national debates on criminal justice surrounding the O.J. Simpson trial as well as the war on drugs. After working in politics for a summer, she soon realized that she couldnt quite commit to the darker side of politics. After attending New York University, she soon found that history offered a balance between the law and the personal stories she cared for, as she dives in on the persistence of poverty and racial inequality in 20th century U.S. history. The decision to research and teach is a kind of happy medium between my research interests, she says.

It wouldnt make any sense to study [mass incarceration] without also leading the change.

Elizabeth Hinton

Hinton views her work as a reciprocal process. After beginning her graduate degree in history, she realized that it wouldnt make any sense to study [mass incarceration] without also leading the change. She seeks to learn the most about peoples historical experiences and ideas in order to fuel true change within the criminal justice system. Since 2017, she has been working with the police department in Stockton, California, to host listening sessions and programming to improve the extreme poverty and crime rates within the city.

At this moment, however, she is mostly thinking about her legacy, as she has a 1-year-old daughter growing up in this tumultuous world. Hinton believes that in order to properly effect change in terms of racism and criminal justice reform, we must look at the mistakes in history and repair them through a restorative justice model. One that brings victims and perpetrators together to think about how both the harms and the harmed can come together after an injustice has been committed. Ultimately, she thinks that her work is more urgent than ever. COVID has unmasked the deep contours of racial inequality, and we need to begin to commit resources to building a different kind of world.

The rest is here:

She's Taking Her History Lessons From the Ivory Tower to the Community - OZY

Frank Kyosho Fallon

June 16, 2020Updated: June 16, 2020 11:51p.m.

The death of black people in our country at the hands of police is a source of shame. Our law enforcement agencies are composed of good people who have been trained the wrong way.

I applaud Gov. Andrew Cuomo's leadership with the police accountability bills he just signed. I thank him for taking on institutionalized racism. Our impressionable public servants need training, not shaming. It should be about how to serve us all.

The war on drugs is another example of how the good intentions of ending the harm caused by drug abuse has resulted in a war on black people.

Commercial capitalism sets up the well-known relationship: The greater the risk, the greater the reward. The greater the success of the war on drugs, the higher the price for drug dealers to overcome those obstacles. It's obvious why the war on drugs accelerates the problem. It's built into our system.

Instead of continuing this self-perpetuating battle, I ask the governor to consider how best to convene agencies and responsibly change the war on drugs to remove the criminal incentive for example, by defining drug abuse as a medical problem, and by providing legal access in controlled clinical settings for addicts who aren't ready to stop. The state would call the shots, figuratively and literally.

This is one way to pull the plug on illegal drug commerce. No commerce, no crime, no enforcement, no prosecution, no imprisonment.

Problems can be solved, and it sure looks to me like Cuomo is a governor who has figured out how to do it.

I urge him to also take up the larger issue of shrinking our gigantic, budget-busting prison system. Our people need education and medical care, not SWAT teams on our local police forces.

We can have instead sensible law enforcement community policing with interagency support from social services that allows all citizens to call on our friends in blue in their hour of need.

Frank Kyosho Fallon lives in Shokan.

Continue reading here:

Viewpoint: Policing can evolve toward protecting everyone - Times Union

Janine Jackson interviewed the Drug Policy Alliances Maritza Perez about the war on drugs and overpolicing for the June 12, 2020, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.

MP3 Link

Janine Jackson: As Derek Chauvin crushed the life out of George Floyd, one of his colleagues said to appalled onlookers, Dont do drugs, kids. The police who broke into Breonna Taylors home and killed her say their no-knock warrant was related to drugs.

US law enforcement can be violent and racist even without the so-called war on drugs, but it often provides pretext for their actions, and reading that a victim of police brutality was on drugs can put an asterisk on the story for many. Understanding the use of the war on drugs should be part of our general understanding of law enforcements war on black and brown people.

Maritza Perez is director of the office of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. She joins us now by phone from Washington, DC. Welcome to CounterSpin, Maritza Perez.

MP: Hi, thanks for having me.

JJ: Lets get right into it. Drug Policy Alliance released a statement this week on the new piece of police reform legislation in Congress, the Justice in Policing Act. How much do you think the act, as is, would doin reality, on the groundand what wont it do thats still needed?

MP: So first, well start off by saying that the act does have some really good elements to it; the first time that we would have legislation around creating a national use-of-force standard, also around data collection; the first time we would have a national database keeping track of police misconduct, also use-of-force incidents. There are other things in there, like banning chokeholds, which is great. So there are things in the bill that are good, but the bill is still lacking in areas, specifically in areas that are related to the drug war, which is why we havent been able to fully support the bill.

On one hand, we definitely appreciate that Congress is taking a hard look at police reform. This is one of those areas in Congress that is always really, really hard to move on, for a number of reasons. So the fact that they even have a bill, a comprehensive bill at that, is a feat. But we also think that this moment and this opportunity requires something that is much bolder.

Breonna Taylor

So some things that we have specifically said that we need to change about the bill are around the war on drugs. For instance, the bill does provide a ban on no-knock warrants, which, as you said in the segment before this interview, thats what happened in Breonna Taylors case. She was shot while she was sleeping in her own bed. The officers who came to her home had a search warrant in the form of a no-knock warrant, which means that they didnt have to notify Breonna that they were on the premises, didnt have to notify folks about their intent before ramming into the home.

No-knock warrants are actually really prevalent. Thousands are issued every year. Its actually really easy to get sign-off from a judge on a no-knock warrant. Usually theyre used in the context of drugs, so the officers will just have to say that, We think that if we give notice, our lives will be in danger, or people will dispose of the evidence, or the drugs. So its very rare that a judge will not sign off on a no-knock warrant. And theyre often used in SWAT deployments, which just makes it even more deadly, and its certainly a deadly combination.

So the bill does prohibit no-knock warrants. However, it doesnt also prohibit quick-knock warrants, which are legally slightly different from the no-knock warrant, but in practice, its the same thing: Its the police officers barging into your home before you have any idea of whats happening, before you can respond, before you have time to react, and this is what leads to deadly incidents.

Because this practice is not just deadly for civilians, although it is definitely more deadly for civilians than police officers. But it also affects law enforcement, because officers have lost their lives using these types of warrants. Why? Because if somebody barges into your home, your first thought is going to be that its somebody trying to break in. So you might try to retaliate.

So we think its very important, especially in drug cases, that officers announce their presence, and give the occupants time to answer their door, to avoid death. So one thing that weve been pushing for with this bill is to include quick-knock warrants in the prohibition around no-knock warrants.

Militarized SWAT team at Ferguson protests (cc photo: Jamelle Bouie)

Something else that we think is missing from the bill is the fact that this bill attempts to reform the Department of Defenses 1033 program. The 1033 program is a program thats been around for approximately 30 years at this point. It allows the Department of Defense to transfer military-grade equipment to local and state police departments.

I think the public really became aware of this program around the time of the Michael Brown protests in Ferguson. I think people were really just astonished to see that local law enforcement had access to things like tanks, riot gear, the types of things that you think you would see in a war zone, not in a community or in a neighborhood.

But the reason that law enforcement has this is because over the years, this program has allowed billionsmore than $7 billion worth of equipmentto get transferred to local and state departments.

This program is also notorious for being mismanaged. In fact, a couple of years ago, the Government Accountability Office conducted a report and review of the program. And they actually created a fake law enforcement agency, and were able to get military-grade equipment from the program, pretending to be this nonexistent law enforcement agency. So that just kind of paints a picture of how little-managed and how little oversight there is of this program, which is scary because, again, its military equipment going into the hands of police officers, and who knows who else.

The bill does include reform around the program, but we dont think reform is enough. We think that the program needs to be abolished. One reason that law enforcement can make a case for getting this equipment is saying that they are conducting counter-narcotics investigations. The bill would take that piece out, but law enforcement would still be able to get the equipment through other ways, including saying that they are conducting counterterrorism investigations; that could be another way to get this equipment.

Our concern is that the equipment would still go to them, and it would still be used against people, and thats what we dont want. And I do want to point out that military equipment, and no-knock warrants, are super tied. I mentioned before that no-knock warrants are often used in conjunction with SWAT raids. The police will often use quick-knock, no-knock warrants during SWAT deployments, specifically during drug investigations, disproportionately against people of color in drug investigations. So we really think that reform wont save the program; the program needs to be done away with. We just need to put an end to militarized policing.

Maritza Perez: I think this bill really does fail to imagine what public safety could look like. Thats our biggest problem with it. Theyre not listening to people on the ground.

And then lastly, what we think the bill fails to do is just really reimagine what public safety can look like. Its still relying on federal funding to encourage police officers and law enforcement to do the right thing. Its still saying, Well, if you do these things, if you implement these policies, we wont take away your funding. But, ultimately, its still diverting resources to law enforcement. And, in fact, there are other areas within the bill that give law enforcement money to implement some of these rules. Its not just being used as a stick, saying, Well, well take your money if you dont do this. Its also like, Well give you money so you can do X, Y and Z.

And I think that Congress really needs to listen to people on the ground, who are saying now is the time where we need to divest from law enforcement and invest in our communities, invest in things that actually create public safety and create safe communities, things like quality education, things like jobs and living wages, things like safe and affordable housing, things like harm reduction.

If were talking about people who use drugs, I think a better investment would be in harm reduction services, and programs for people who really need them; that would save lives. That would reduce violence.

I think this bill really does fail to imagine what public safety could look like. Thats our biggest problem with it. Theyre not listening to people on the ground. And were trying to just help Congress think through what people are actually asking. Theyre not saying, Fund police right now. In fact, theyre saying the opposite. Theyre saying, Invest in our communities. This bill doesnt go far enough.

So unfortunately, as the bill currently is written, we cannot throw our support behind it. We hope that in the coming days, Congress gets the bill to a place where we could support it, because, like I said, there are a lot of good things in the bill. There are some good things in there, and Congress hasnt acted on police reform in quite some time. So this is a really great opportunity, but we think they should seize the moment and really push for something bold. The moment today requires bold action, and this bill is just not it.

JJ: Let me ask you, also: I think that some people think, Well, cannabis is legal now. Is the war on drugs really still happening? I think they imagine theres been a sea change in that. When youre answering how the war on drugs fits in the overall picture of police racism and of overpolicing, how do you explain it to people? Like that its still going on; just because you can go to the dispensary and get some pot doesnt mean that people are not still being policed and harmed by law enforcement under the guise of a war on drugs.

MP: I think thats one reason that we actually have, for a long time, been saying that we need to think beyond marijuana legalization, and we need to think about all drug decriminalization. Because as long as we criminalize things that are low-level, one, and then things that a lot of people turn to for survival, for example, drug selling or sex workthose are things that some people do just to survive. And as long as those things remain criminalized, its giving police cover to go after black and brown people for things that are crimes on the books, even though they may not be harming anybody, even though the crime may not be a threat to public safety.

The fact is that we would have criminal laws on the books, and a number of criminal laws will always disproportionately hurt minority communities, people of color, because we feel the brunt of police enforcement. So we need to chip away at all of those things; really, we need to ask ourselves, Is this actually something that needs to be criminalized, that will actually endanger public safety? And if the answer is that it wont, then we should take it off the books, because we need to make sure that they dont have excuses to continue to harass and target our communities, because its just going to continue to happen.

Marijuana dispensary, Eugene, Oregon (cc photo: Rick Obst)

I think what you said earlier about marijuana being legalized, you can go to a dispensaryI think, unfortunately, people just have different experiences in America based on your skin color. I think if youre white and you dont experience police harassment, you might think marijuana legalization did it, right? I can go get my weed from a store and things are fine, nobodys harassing me.

But data says something different. Even if you look at states that have legalized marijuana, the people who are still being disproportionately arrested for marijuana activity, the people who are still being cited, are black and brown people, the people who feel the brunt of all police enforcement.

So I think we should all just be committed to just decriminalizing things, getting things off the books, if we really want to help communities of color. But also, we just need to rethink law enforcement. I mean, do we really think its a good use of taxpayer resources to throw somebody in jail, or give somebody a life record, for smoking marijuana, something thats legal in most states at this point? So its a good question, and something that we should reconsider. I think policing is a good start, but I think we also just need to continue to chip away at criminal justice, and have a conversation about criminal justice reform.

JJ: Weve been speaking with Maritza Perez of the Drug Policy Alliance. You can follow their work online at DrugPolicy.org. Thank you so much, Maritza Perez, for joining us on CounterSpin.

MP: Thank you for having me.

Read more from the original source:

'We Should Be Committed to Decriminalizing if We Want to Help Communities of Color' - FAIR

Evation. Yesterday, authorities in the Philippines used that typo to convict Maria Ressa, the crusading journalist who founded the independent news site Rappler, and her former colleague Reynaldo Santos of cyber-libel charges. The typo appeared in a May 2012 article in which Santos linked Wilfredo Keng, a Filipino businessman, to the human-trafficking and drug trades. The story was published four months before the Philippines introduced the law under which the cyber-libel charges would eventually be brought, placing the story beyond that laws scope. Then, in 2014, Rappler spotted and fixed the typo. Prosecutors argued that the fix amounted to republication of the article, which meant the cyber-libel law applied to it after all. That interpretation, like almost everything else about the case, was a stretchthis morning, Ressa decried it as legal acrobaticsbut that didnt stop a judge handing down a guilty verdict.

Ressa and Santos could now face up to six years in prison. They plan to appeal. Whatever the eventual sentence, the verdict is another sharp blow to press freedom in the Philippines, whose authoritarian president, Rodrigo Duterte, has waged a relentless campaign to silence critics, including Ressa, who have spoken out about atrocities including a war on drugs that has claimed at least twelve thousand Filipino lives to date, many at the hands of the state. The Philippines National Union of Journalists said the verdict against Ressa and Santos basically kills freedom of speech and of the press. Ressas voice cracked as, speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, she said, To the Filipinos watching, this is not just about Rappler or about us. This is about you. Because freedom of the press is the foundation of every single right you have. This morning, Ressa vowed to fight on. She tweeted #HoldTheLinea slogan that has become a rallying cry among Dutertes critics.

ICYMI: The mystery of Tucker Carlson

Yesterdays convictions marked an escalation of officials harassment of Ressa and Rappler. Pro-government accounts have repeatedly mobbed Rappler on social media; Duterte banned the sites reporters from the presidential palace and campaign events. In his state of the nation address in 2017, Duterte accused Rappler of being wholly owned by Americans, in violation of media-ownership provisions in the Philippine constitution; later the same year, he spread conspiracy theories about the site deriving funding from the CIA. While Rappler does have foreign backers, including Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire eBay founder whose media investments include The Intercept, it is wholly owned and operated by Filipinosbut that didnt stop the countrys Securities and Exchange Commission from moving, in 2018, to effectively revoke Rapplers license. Ressa and Rappler have subsequently faced charges of tax and securities fraud, which have yet to be resolved. In December 2018, Ressa narrowly avoided arrest on landing at an airport in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. In the first months of 2019, she was arrested on two separate occasions, and has repeatedly had to post bail to secure her freedom.

Last year, Ressa wrote about her arrests for CJR, as well as Dutertes broader campaign of disinformationpatriotic trollingto pound critics into silence. Duterte said around the time of his inauguration, in 2016, that just because youre a journalist, you are not exempted from assassination, if youre a son of a bitch. Since then, he has lobbed allegations of fraud at the owners of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the countrys biggest English-language title, and ABS-CBN, the countrys biggest broadcast network. The Inquirer was sold to a pro-Duterte businessman. The government threatened to force ABS-CBN off the air; last month, it followed through after ABS-CBNs license, which is granted by the countrys legislature, expired. Pro-Duterte lawmakers stalled efforts to extend the license, and the government refused ABS-CBN special dispensation to continue broadcasting while the issue was resolved.

Dutertes war on the press goes far beyond censorshiphes waged a brazen effort to exert almost total control over the Philippines information ecosystem. Almost all Filipinos with internet access use Facebook, which, thanks in part to subsidies that Facebook itself paid, is cheaper and easier to access than independent news sites; consequently, as Ressa wrote for CJR, Facebook is our internet. As Davey Alba explained in an exhaustive feature for BuzzFeed in 2018, allies of Duterte, who has admitted to deploying trolls during his election campaign, have flooded the platform with pro-government propaganda and crude smear campaignsincluding the weaponization of pornographytargeting critical journalists and politicians. There was no strong loyalty or support for news in the first place, Clarissa David, a professor at the University of the Philippines, told Alba. False news did not have to supplant the legacy brands. People went from no access to news to gaining access only through Facebooks algorithm-driven news feed.

Facebook has ramped up fact-checking programs and other measures in the country, but critics say its approach remains inadequate. Abuse is routine on the platformlast week, Regine Cabato reported, for the Washington Post, that trolls cloned accounts belonging to reporters, including student journalists, in order to harass or incriminate them. The fresh trolling campaign came in the context of draconian new anti-terror legislation the legislature passed last week, which will likely give the government yet another pretext to stifle dissent. Already this year, Duterte signed legislation ostensibly aimed at curbing misinformation around the spread of covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. A few days later, the law was used to charge two journalistsMario Batuigas and Amor Virata, who had reported on a local mayors social media posts about possible cases of the virus in Cavite City, south of Manilawith spreading false information.

Internationally, Ressaa former CNN bureau chief who is a dual US citizenis the most visible victim of Dutertes war on the press, but she is far from alone. From lone typos to major media conglomerates, Duterte and his allies are leading a totalizing war on dissent in the Philippines and, in the process, tipping the country back toward its days of dictatorship. Writing for CJR, Ressa recalled starting out as a journalist in the late eighties, covering Southeast Asias transition from authoritarian rule to democracy. Its bizarre now to think of the euphoria then.

Below, more on the Philippines and international press freedom:

Other notable stories:

ICYMI: Why micropayments will never be a thing in journalism

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Maria Ressa's conviction, and the Philippines' dire information climate - Columbia Journalism Review

Jos Torres, of Louisiana State University, discusses his experience as a police officer and later as an academic...

The results of the Kerner Commission Report were published in the midst of racial unrest sweeping across the United States in the 1960s. The commission, established by President Lyndon Johnson and made up of bi-partisan officials, set out to investigate the cause of social unrest. It concluded that the unrest was largely triggered by police actions towards Black people but caused by pervasive institutional racism. If history repeats itself then scores of younger generations are getting a taste of the 1960s and we are confronting the Kerner Commissions famous line: We are moving towards two societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal. These words may be easy to say as a race and policing scholar yet I say these words as a former community police officer who now teaches on the subject of race and policing. I emphasize the historytracing the relationship between race and policing from slave patrols through today. Through the intentional excavation of my own gaps in historical knowledge on this subject, I have been able to pull back from my individual experience as a police officer and place that experience into a larger historical context. This essay exposes a few of the lessons this excavation has taught me while calling attention to the value that historical pedagogy adds towards understanding race and policing.

Beginning in 2009 I worked nearly three years as a police officer for the city of Norfolk, Virginia, and spent most of that time policing all Black public housing neighborhoods as a community police officer. Those of us who were public housing community police officers were voted on by its members. We went through a trial period to see if they were up to the task and able to be trusted by the community. We practiced a style of community policing that called for us to be in the community as much as possible. I worked sixty-to-eighty hours a week, carried a work cell phone furnished by the housing authority that residents could call anytime, was accountable for one public housing neighborhood, patrolled by vehicle, foot, and bike, and used crime statistics to find patterns of concern. We answered calls only in public housing, and when we couldnt officers on routine patrol would report to us incidents they responded to in our absence. We would prioritize felony offenses and act as street detectivesgathering information from residents and passing information on to detectives or using already established working knowledge and giving that information to detectives. We used our discretion often with low-level offenses, knowing that the consequences of a minor arrest might harm trust and trigger collateral consequences for residents (i.e. loss of a job, eviction, etc.). The law enforcement side of our efforts was strengthened by enforcing housing authority trespass policy that allowed for the formal banishment of individuals from public housinga policy which I would later and continue to evaluate.

As a Puerto-Rican who grew up in the lower middle class I was an outsider to the Black residents of public housing. The joy of doing community policing was that it privileged knowing the residents of my public housing community and them getting to know me. We developed connections with community residents by knocking on doors, handing out business cards, following-up with crime victims, and the many routine informal contacts with residents we made while on patrol. We also endeavored to establish bonds with residents through various programs. Two of my partners started on their own, sports programming catered to youth residents. We worked regularly with housing authority staff and community leaders. Had I not done this style of policing I would not have been exposed to the many hard-working people working to make it out of poverty. Had I not done this style of policing I would not have been invited to family dinners and cookouts in the community. I may have easily drawn negative opinions of those living in poverty, and Black people, had I practiced a traditional style of policing that only asked me to respond to calls and enforce the law.

I left policing in pursuit of a doctorate with the idea that I could use my experience to advance knowledge about policing. My research began to concentrate on the policing of public housing through no-trespass policies, community policing, and stop-and-frisk which was supplemented through broader studies of race, and crime and deviance. After getting my doctorate at Virginia Tech in 2016 I joined the professoriate at Louisiana State University (LSU). The timing of this transition is noteworthy. Not long after I moved to Baton Rouge, where LSU is located, the city became engulfed in events that would thrust it into the national spotlight. First came the death of Alton Sterling at the hands of Baton Rouge police officers and then a mass shooting targeting local law enforcement. By the early fall semester, I received permission to deliver a seminar on race and policing for the spring.

To guide my pedagogy on race and policing, and as I live in these times, I continue to be brought back to a quote attached to Jos Rizal, a leader in the Filipino Nationalist movement and told to me by my professor Dr. Bernadette Holmes during a Race, Gender, and the Criminal Justice System seminar. The quote is: Know history, know self. No history, no self. This quote informs what I call a pedagogy of the self which intentionally seeks to address the gaps in my own historical knowledge about the subject of race and policing. By the time of my first seminar on race and policing much of my historical knowledge on the subject only covered chunks such as the convict leasing system in the South, policing during the Civil Rights movement and leading into the Kerner Commission Report, the War on Drugs, and contemporary events surrounding racial profiling such as stop-and-frisk in New York City. I set out to engage two broad questions to help fill in the pieces to the bigger picture. How did policing develop in the United States and what role did race play in its development? How did race and ethnicity and policing play out before and immediately after the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement? After scouring readings I developed a broader historical understanding of race and policing. Below I reflect on how this broader understanding has informed my thoughts on community policing, stop-and-frisk, and the academy in relation to race and policing.

The history of race and policing has forced me to have a reckoning about community policing and its association with slave patrols. Policing research suggests that community policing began as traditional modes of law enforcement failed to stem rising crime rates in the 70s alongside concerns over deteriorating police-citizen relations. The rise of community policing across the United States was made possible by a shifting federal stance towards crime. As historian Elizabeth Hinton (2016) documents in From the War on Poverty to The War on Crime, since the War on Poverty, the United States has attempted to institutionalize community policing through presidential and congressional involvement in dictating how federal dollars could be used to fund local crime-fighting strategies. Federal involvement in local policing reached ascendance with the Clinton administration who returned the largest crime bill in the history of the United States which provided a community policing arm of the Department of Justice, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. However, since reading Slave Patrols by historian Sally Haden I see community policing not as a novel construction but as a throwback to the philosophy guiding slave patrols in the South. In times of slavery controlling slaves and in turn, protecting economic interests was paramount and slave patrols became integral to preserving the status quo. Slave patrollers patrolled specific geographic areas so that patrollers could gain a working knowledge of the residents and slaves within it and knowing the geography became important for catching runaway slaves. Slave patrollers were pulled from the local community because local residents had a better understanding of the issues specific to the slaves they owned, providing an added buy-in for patrollers to serve. Slave patrollers, while oftentimes cruel in their actions, nonetheless helped preserve the economic interest of their local community by returning slaves to their masters and oftentimes not inflicting harm to slaves because that would jeopardize labor output. There was also much civilian oversight to hold slave patrollers accountable to the communitys interest. Todays calls for community policing are challenging police to serve the interests of Black communities in much the same way slave patrols served the interests of White communities.

The history of race and policing has also made me understand the legal systems role in providing broad powers to the police that have resulted in constitutional abuses against racial minorities. Vagrant Nation by historian Risa Golubuff shows us that before Terry v. Ohio, which established stop-and-frisk, vagrancy and loitering laws were written so vaguely that probable cause was too easily established and used heavily against racial minorities. This is clear in reading Slavery by Another Name by journalist Douglas A. Blackmon as vagrancy and loitering laws were weaponized to advance the convict leasing system in the South following the Civil War. Numerous legal challenges through the 1960s eventually culminated in the invalidation of such broadly written laws. At the same time, the ruling in Terry v. Ohio opened the doors for courts to extend police investigatory authority through stop-and-frisk. Indeed courts have expanded stop-and-frisk powers by validating the use of subjective identifiers such as suspicious bulge, fits the description, high crime area, and furtive movement among others as qualifiers for reasonable suspicion. The abuse of these subjective identifiers by police against racial and ethnic communities was made apparent in Floyd, et al. v. City of New York.

Finally, learning more about the history of race and policing has challenged my thoughts on the academy and use of data. Science has been historically central to reproducing racial inequalities through the criminal justice system and is well documented. The Condemnation of Blackness Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America by historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad showcases how newly emerging crime data collection efforts alongside pseudo-science at the turn of the 20th century was weaponized to advance an ideology of black criminality which would be used to justify exclusionary and discriminatory practices against Black people. Similarly, Race, Police and the Making of a Political Identity Mexican Americans and the Los Angeles Police Department, 1900-1945 by historian Edward Escobar discusses how statistics were used to cast Mexican Americans in Los Angeles, particularly youth, as violent and thus to justify aggressive policing. From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime talks about the prominent role sociologist Daniel Moynihan played in advising President Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, both of whom rejected addressing the structural impediments to social progress that address poverty and in turn crime. Thus, even by leaving law enforcement, I cannot escape the possibility I could continue to produce work that stands in the way of racial progress. Nonetheless, we must not neglect that education itself can provide tremendous benefits towards understanding racial issues. To understand todays climate surrounding race and policing we must first understand how we have arrived to todays climate surrounding race and policing. In other words Know history, know self. No history, no self.

Jos Torres, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at Louisiana State University in the Department of Sociology.

Suggested citation: Jos Torres, What Teaching Policing and Race as a Former Police Officer Has Taught Me, JURIST Academic Commentary, June 19, 2020, https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2020/06/jos-torres-policing-and-race/.

This article was prepared for publication by Brianna Bell, a JURIST Staff Editor. Please direct any questions or comments to her at commentary@jurist.org

Opinions expressed in JURIST Commentary are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, donors or the University of Pittsburgh.

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What Teaching Policing and Race as a Former Police Officer Has Taught Me - JURIST

In June 1969, Ed Campbell received his masters degree from Indiana University.

Eleven months later, four college students on a campus in neighboring Ohio were killed, and nine more were injured, as they protested Americas military expansion into Cambodia. Twenty-eight National Guard soldiers had fired 67 rounds into the crowd at a peace rally at Kent State University.

"The unrest in this country with the college kids was unbelievable," Campbell recalls. After Kent State, "it just grew to monumental proportions."

And yet, the war continued. One month after the Kent State shootings, 1st Lt. Ed Campbell was blasted by hot, soupy air when the door to his military transport opened after touching down in Vietnam.

Reluctantly, he stepped out of the plane, anxious to complete his two-year ROTC obligation.

After a brief assignment at battalion headquarters, Campbell was welcomed to Vietnam with a case of dysentery and then pneumonia, requiring two hospital stays. When he finally was declared healthy, he was reassigned to the 378th Maintenance Support Company of the 185th Maintenance Battalion.

It was the same battalion that provided support during the drive into Cambodia in April 1970, the impetus for the Kent State peace rally.

His company was composed of men primarily from two very different backgrounds, the rural South and urban Midwest. While most were mechanics, they had little else in common and they rarely socialized.

"These were basic guys that didnt have anyone to pull any political strings for them. They just got pulled into the draft and wound up in Vietnam," remembers Campbell. "They just knew they were in a freakin miserable place, and they acted accordingly. They did their job, but they didnt do it with a lot of enthusiasm."

Unlike their World War II heroes, Vietnam soldiers lacked a clear enemy and objective, explains Campbell.

"Mussolini, Hitler and Hideki Tojo those guys were right out of central casting. You couldnt have asked for worse bad guys than those three bozos," he says, adding that America had a clear stake in the outcome of that earlier war.

But in Vietnam, he says, the war "just seemed to drag on and on. There was tremendous dissension in the U.S., and that spilled over to the soldiers."

And the men of his company were no exceptions. "Of the 200-plus guys in the company," Campbell says, "Id say about three-quarters of them would have gotten on a plane the next day to get out Vietnam if they could have."

Campbells motivational and leadership challenges were compounded by the availability of drugs in the region, and their popularity among soldiers who used them to numb the psychological and physical pain of this unpopular war.

"The television news shows from that era Huntley-Brinkley and Walter Cronkite were going on ad infinitum about the drug problems in Vietnam, and they werent exaggerating," says Campbell. "Half the guys from my company were smoking marijuana, and there were a significant number who were screwing around with heroin."

Campbell points to musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Doors who had glamorized drug culture. "All these pop stars from that era were trying to paint themselves as druggies, and that appealed to the kids at the time.

"The soldiers had access to this stuff. Unfortunately, the Army couldnt stop it. Soldiers werent very happy about being in Vietnam ,and it was so easy to get the drugs over there."

Campbell is quick to point out, however, that he never saw soldiers using drugs when they were out in the jungle, because they "realized the potential for danger when away from their home base."

As unit officer, Campbell earned the nickname, "Easy Ed." He understood the stressors, used reason instead of force, and tried to earn his soldiers respect by keeping them on task, focusing on just getting everyone home safely.

"I didnt break chops," he recalls. "As long as they did their jobs, I just left well enough alone. I wasnt any kind of career Army type. I didnt want to be the next [General] Westmoreland. I was just doing my time, too."

He almost accomplished his goal of finishing his tour of duty without an incident, until the day he was told that he was going to be shipped home a month early.

"I was happy as a clam," he says. "I went into my little hooch, the little hut that I lived in, to just get some stuff together that I was going to send back. I was in there for just a short time when a runner came up and said, You got to get back to the orderly room. "

Without getting an explanation, he followed.

As he entered the room, Campbell saw "a group of whites and a group of Blacks. There was no love lost between the two groups. They were going at it."

Obscenities were flying, and there were some Army-issued M16s in hand.

Being "Easy Ed," he tried to speak to the two groups of soldiers to defuse the situation. When that didnt work, Campbell let loose, countering with his own obscenities and the threat of dishonorable discharges, plus punishment at Leavenworth penitentiary.

Deep down in his heart, Campbell recalls siding with the Blacks. "There were less of them, and I knew that some of them had got screwed pulling guard and doing other Army grunt-type jobs. They had gotten the short end of the stick as far as promotions."

Stunned by Campbells explosive rant, the two groups of soldiers parted ways, averting a crisis.

Unbeknownst to him, Campbell was being watched by a respected Army sergeant major who had tried without success to break up the melee prior to Campbells arrival. He was impressed by Campbells bravery and later recommended him for a Bronze Star for his actions, noting in his report that he suspected alcohol and drugs had played a role in fueling the soldiers anger, putting "fire in their eyes."

Campbell never found out what really precipitated the fight "the problems had been brewing for a while." Maybe it was discontent with their miserable situation and the resulting frustration, or it could have been alcohol and drugs, as the sergeant major suspected.

But Campbell also thinks that "maybe someone said the N word just one too many times."

Within a week of the confrontation, he was back on a plane, bound for home.

While that day at Long Binh Post happened in 1971, the death of George Floyd made him think of it once again.

Ed Campbell wonders what might have happened if he had already left Vietnam, or if he had decided not to intervene in that fight almost 50 years ago.

Do you know a veteran with an interesting story? Do you offer a program or service focus on serving retired military? Are you planning an event aimed at veterans or their families? Email Mary K. Talbot at ThoseWhoServedAmerica@gmail.com

Go here to read the rest:

Veterans Voice: Memories from the jungles of Vietnam - The Providence Journal

MEXICAN president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has admitted he personally ordered the release of one of El Chapo's sons.

Mr Lopez Obrador said he instructed security forces to release the drug lord to save hundreds of lives after cartel gunmen defeated Mexican army forces.

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Infamous drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's son Ovidio was captured in October - only for the 30-year-old to be let go hours later after a brutal gun battle.

His capture lead to hundreds of heavily armed cartel gang members flooding into the city of Culiacan, in the state of Sinaloa.

The fighters put up flaming roadblocks, burned vehicles and opened fire in a long siege which was mostly broadcast on television.

At least 14 people were killed in the confrontation which ended with the criminals overwhelming security forces and the release of El Chapo's son.

The bloody incident caused much embarassment for the Mexican government, and sparked fears it showed El Chapo's infamous Sinaloa cartel now ruled the streets.

Mr Lopez Obrador admitted for the first time on Friday that he is the one who gave the order to release Ovidio.

He said: "So as not to put the population at risk I ordered that this operation be stopped and that this alleged criminal be released.

"If we hadn't suspended [the operation] more than 200 innocent people would have lost their lives."

Mexico is still gripped by criminal gangs, despite efforts by the security forces to launch a crackdown and the extradition of El Chapo to the US in 2017.

The bloodshed was a blow in Mexicos war on drugs - and came during the countrys deadliest year since it began recording homicide statistics more than 20 years ago.

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After the operation, Mr Lopez Obrador revealed Donald Trump had contacted him to offer to help crackdown on the cartel.

He said however he declined as he attempts to lead a Mexican fightback against the criminals who continue to run riot in large swathes of the nation.

"We will not allow any foreign government to interfere in matters that only correspond to the Mexican authorities," he said.

"That is to respect, to assert our sovereignty. This does not mean that there is no cooperation, there is cooperation.

"But we decide if that cooperation can help as long as our sovereignty is respected."

More than 35,000 people were murdered in Mexico in 2019 as the government fails to rein in the explosive violence.

Ovidio and his brother Joaqun Guzmn Lpez are charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana in the US.

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At its peak El Chapos cartel controlled almost the entire Pacific coast of Mexico and trafficked more than 150 tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana to America.

Prosecutors believe the drug baron made around $12.7billion from the drug syndicate - and he lived a life of luxury with private planes, luxury homes and gold-plated guns.

Ovidio, Joaquin and their brothers Ivan and Jesus, are known as the known as "Los Chapitos" and are believed to be leading members of the Sinaloa cartel.

The police officer who arrested Ovidio was killed just one month after he was released by two gunmen who unloaded 155 bullets at him.

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El Chapo's sons have reportedly been attempting to exploit the coronavirus pandemic to secure power in Mexico.

Mexico's economy is taking a big hit during the crisis, so the cartels are moving in to gain support by targeting those worst hit by the virus.

And with police and military forces now tied up trying to deal with the pandemic, criminals have rrom to operate.

Reportedly the Sinaloa cartel were also running an illegal alcohol trade after a dry law was instituted by the Mexican state during the pandemic - once again cashing in.

Visit link:

Mexican president admits he ordered release of El Chapos son as cartel gang defeated army forces - The Sun

Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Aleesia Johnson shares her perspective amid national unrest over police brutality and racial inequality. Indianapolis Star

Editor's note:IndyStar, part of the USA Today Network, now capitalizes Black in stories and photo captions.

We do not capitalize white or brown because they do not describe a shared racial identity or culture. We already capitalize other ethnic terms, such as Asian, South Asian or Latino/a, as they are proper nouns. White is a physical description of people of European descent from a multitude of cultures.

America is at a crossroad.

The direction our local, state and federal leaders take over the next weeks and months will set a path for the future of a nation growing increasingly diverse, yet still burdened by the vestiges of centuries of racism and discrimination.

This is a moment of outrage and opportunity unlike anything on American soil since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. Spurred by protests over a wave of African Americans killed by police and the broader implications of systemic racism leaders across the U.S. are being forced to listen and take action.

In Central Indiana, protesters have taken to the streets of downtown Indianapolis for more than a dozen days, as activism has spilled over into nearby predominantly white cities such as Avon, Carmel, Fishers and Greenwood. Thousands of people attended one Indianapolis protest, the city's largest against racial inequality and police brutality in at least 30 years.

Hackney:Join IndyStar for a virtual town hall on race relations at 2 p.m. Thursday

Some change is happening.

Indianapolis just adopted a resolution designating racism a public health crisis, and officials are reviewing the oversight of police and finally moving toward widespread use of body cameras.

Those steps are critical, but many advocates for reform say don't go far enough.

The tougher questions and the answers that determine where America goes from this crossroad need to address the deep-seated issues that foster racism and inequity.

There are no easy or one-size-fits-all answers. The potential solutions are as varied and complicated as the underlying issues. But the protests have made it impossible to continue ignoring the problems. They also have created a unique opportunity to openly discuss where we fall short and, more importantly, to enact meaningful solutions.

As Indianapolis and the rest of America looks for a path forward, IndyStar reached out to a diverse cross-section of the community for their ideas and recommendations. We asked everyone the same question: How do we capitalize on this moment to make Indianapolis a better place for all of its residents, and what does that new vision entail?

Here, in their own words, are ideas and suggestions from some Hoosiers with skin in the game:

Executive Director, Indiana Federal Community Defenders, LLC

Monica Foster, executive director of Indiana Federal Community Defenders, poses for a portrait at her office in Indianapolis on Monday.(Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar)

We should end prosecution by zip code. Currently in Indianapolis, the federal government, through the United States Attorneys Office, is implementing a program shrewdly called Project Safe Neighborhoods that targets certain zip codes in predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods on Indianapolis eastside. The program focuses increased law enforcement and prosecution on these communities in a vainglorious attempt to reduce violent crime. Cases that previously were handled in state court are now prosecuted in federal court because of the higher sentences available there. The federal government shows no mercy.

The numbers tell the story. The United States Sentencing Commission reports that in 2019, 67.24% of firearms cases prosecuted by the federal government in the Southern District of Indiana (roughly the southern half of Indiana) were against our Black and brown citizens (78 of the 116 total prosecutions). Similarly, of the federal drug prosecutions in 2019, 72.73% were against persons of color (104 of the 143 total prosecutions).

Persons of color constitute roughly 10% of the population of the Southern District of Indiana. In a justice system that is supposed to be colorblind, these prosecutions are not tolerable.

Monica Foster, executive director of Indiana Federal Community Defenders, shares her perspective amid national unrest over racial injustice. Indianapolis Star

The program is a replay of the failed war on drugs that targeted Black and brown communities and resulted in repeated congressional attempts to rectify the sins of those programs. The failed war on drugs destroyed Black and brown families by sending generations of Black men to prison to serve severe sentences often 100 times as long as those imposed on white folks charged with similar offenses. It has been called the new Jim Crow because of these pernicious effects. The current Neighborhoods program results in racially disparate prosecutions every bit as insidious as those we now condemn. It is time to take the federal boot off the necks of our brothers and sisters of color.

If the $20 million dollars spent on the Neighborhoods program ere pumped into our failing public school system, giving the kids in those neighborhoods a fighting chance at jobs other than drug dealing, perhaps all our neighborhoods would be safe enough not to require the carrying of firearms.

Cumberland United Methodist Church

The Rev. Ronnie Bell(Photo: Submitted)

Im Black and my church is mostly white. Im fairly young (31), and most of them are senior citizens. I love them and they love their pastor. These recent times have revealed the difference in our history and our social locations.

Cumberland UMC, on Muessing Street sits on the eastern edge of the city of Indianapolis. My church was founded in 1851, which is a time where in many parts of the country, an African-American like me could be considered someones legal property. 169 years later, American society has progressed, but as we have seen this past month, clearly not enough.

COVID19 changed our local churchs calendar significantly, but it also changed the calendar of the entire global denomination to which I belong. George Floyd was killed on May 25. In a non-COVID19 world, I would have been just returning to Indianapolis after a 10-day gathering of United Methodists (May 5 - 15) known as General Conference, where we would have been attempting to find a way forward on the issue of LGBTQ inclusion and the UMCs position on human sexuality. I was prepared to lead my congregation through difficult conversations this summer in the aftermath of the conference. Difficult conversations continue; the subject is a little different.

Maybe the fact that I would have been in Minneapolis in May makes Floyds tragic death hit a little harder for me. I have taken the video of his violent death down from my social media page, because its traumatic for others, and Im realizing, traumatic for me.

For many law enforcement officers, a large Black man like me is a threat. Unfortunately societys respectable titles like ordained pastor, UM General Conference delegate or college-educated do not change that. Nothing that Ive done or achieved stops my heart rate from going up when I see a patrol car when Im doing nothing at all to break the law. Sharing small pieces or vulnerabilities of my racial experience with my congregation has helped to awaken the social consciousness and need for anti-racism. Its a long road ahead.

And in this long road, it is easy to question areas we havent questioned before. Part of my reputation is being friendly and having a nice smile. Lately, however, Ive noticed due to wearing a facemask to keep myself and others safe, when Im taking walks in my neighborhood my neighbors act differently when they cant see a smiling face. Is a smile a safety adaptation for a Black man in America? Does a smile and chuckle keep my white neighbors from calling the police on me?

These words are hard to write, but theyre even harder to live. As people of faith, I believe, we are called to bear each others burdens, even the ones that are difficult to put into words.

We cannot legislate our way out of racial prejudice, but it doesnt mean we should stop working for better laws. On top of laws, quite simply we need an accompanying shift of the heart in white people to see and fight for the sacred worth of Black people.

Body-cameras, like the ones that IMPD will soon implement and disciplinary action taken against police brutality are helpful measures. Things wont change for the better until people care more about loving the image of God in their oppressed, villainized, bloodied, bruised, suffocated and violated Black neighbors morethan they care about gathering for worship in a building. I pray for a day when churches realize that a protest is an act of worship. Demanding justice for Dreasjon Reed and Breonna Taylor is an act of worship.

For white friends and allies, I have no other words, but just keep praying, donating to organizations working for structural change and keep calling out racism and violence when you see it, listening to the stories of those who are oppressed and sharing them, using your platform and privilege to amplify voices that are often silenced. Also, there is clearly an intense anti-racist energy right now that will likely soon dissipate. Keep this fighting going even when it is no longer trendy.

And if youre Black, weve known this reality for all of our lives. Thank God that society is stepping up and no longer denying the realities that we live daily. Dont always feel like you need to try to make meaning of this or try to interpret some deeper truth or make some immediate plan to work to make things better. For now, our pain, our grief and lived experience of Blackness is enough. And we so are beautiful the way God made us.

Executive Director, 100blackmenindy.org

From right, Ontay Johnson, executive director of 100 Black Men of Indianapolis, and James Duke, president, along with fellow members and volunteers, hold a high five rally to surprise students as they enter for the first day back to school at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis on July 31, 2017.(Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar)

Have you ever heard the term Canary in a coal mine? In the early days of coal mining, mines did not offer ventilation systems. Miners would bring a caged canary and release it into the atmosphere of the mine. Canaries are especially sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide which made them perfect for detecting toxins in the environment. As long as the bird kept singing, the miners knew their air supply was safe. A dead canary signaled toxins in the environment.

Like the canary in the coal mine, African American Males are singing to our nation and world for that matter. What is unfortunate is the songs that my brothers are singing in most cases are not songs of celebration but songs of despair, heartache, and pain.

The title of these ballads we hear on the radio, watch on television, and read in the newspaper daily Mass Incarceration, Unemployment Rates, Education Disparities to name a few. Unlike a song of inspiration and motivation which uplifts and creates wonderful emotions; these ballads invoke hostility and a sense of hopelessness. We must listen to these songs and take action; the Canary realizes that if the mine is filled with toxins no one is safe.one side of the mine cant flourish and the other side is barren. So it is with African American Males, we cant live barren lives and everyone else flourishes. We as African American Males are still singing, we are not extinct! We will not quit, we are resilient, we will stay the course, we will prevail!!!

Attorney

Attorney Jorge Rodriguez poses for a portrait at his law office in Indianapolis on Monday.(Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar)

I'm not Black so I can't fully understand the Black experience in America. But I am an ethnic minority and as such have experienced discrimination over the years both as a youngster and even now as an attorney. I know some people in Indiana do not call or hire me simply because I have a Spanish name Jorge Rodriguez despite my many years of experience and accomplishments as a defense attorney.

Indianapolis Attorney Jorge Rodriguez shares his perspective amid national unrest over police brutality and racial inequality. Indianapolis Star

Ive been an attorney for almost 30 years both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney in the criminal justice system. Almost half of those years were spent here in the juvenile courts of Indianapolis. Ive seen good cops most of them and Ive seen bad cops very few of them. And Ive seen a level of professionalism in law enforcement beyond the Marion County line that commands respect. Why? Our supervisors wont stand for anything less, a deputy sheriff in a neighboring county once told me. The code of silence among police officers that allows bad cops to remain and go undetected must end. It cant wait for the next George Floyd to die. It must be rooted out from within. Abuse of police powers must be ferreted out, exposed whether due to discrimination because of race or ethnicity or against the powerless anywhere. Such persons cannot be allowed by the government to wield police powers. The way we defund the police is one by one. We get rid of the bad ones one by one.

Senior Pastor Purpose of Life Ministries, Baptist Ministers Alliance, National Action Network of Indiana and the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis

The Rev. David Greene Sr., senior pastor at Purpose of Life Ministries, poses for a portrait at the church in Indianapolis on Tuesday.(Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar)

The City of Indianapolis can capitalize on this moment to make Indianapolis a better place for all of its residents by addressing the health deserts, education deserts, food deserts, public safety deserts, and economic deserts across the zip codes that continue to be a part of the most negative categories in the state and in the country. There must be intentional actions that generate true changes and not continue to have conversations that lead to no substantive changes in the community.

It will take positive concrete actions that will generate a hope and trust that will span multiple areas in the minority community. There is a lot of disbelief and distrust because there has been so little action with a lot of dialog that appears to have been worthless.

Concrete actions would include items such as development of economic empowerment zones in our poorest areas; mandatory commitment to African Americans for access to city contracts that the mayor and city pass out; provide all children in poor neighborhoods with technology and mentors; development of the Black Agenda for Indianapolis.

The concrete actions that are taken need to be communicated with the community on an annual basis. Currently, there is no report that provides the State of Black Indianapolis. The issues need to stay in front of the community, so things do not get lost!

Rev. David Greene Sr., senior pastor at Purpose of Life Ministries, shares his perspective amid unrest over police brutality and racial inequality. Indianapolis Star

Executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana

Jane Henegar, executive director at the ACLU of Indiana.(Photo: Provided by ACLU of Indiana)

Indianapolis must reimagine the role police play in our city and that role has to be smaller, more circumscribed, and funded with fewer tax-payer dollars.

Year after year, our law enforcement budgets grow. But more policing isnt making our community more safe. The lived reality that white people take for granted is what we should provide for our entire community: an end to over-policing, an end to constant surveillance and harassment, an end to enforcement of non-serious offenses, and an end to the targeting of Black and Brown people.

The core problem does not lie in one officer or all officers, but in modern policing itself. From its inception, law enforcement has been tasked with protecting power and privilege by exerting social control over Black people. We have to seize this moment and recognize that only reimagining a new system will allow us to better serve the residents of our city.

IMPDs budget makes up more than 30% of the city's budget. As Mayor Hogsett and the City-County Council work on the 2021 budget, we must shift resources away from adding officers and militarized equipment and toward Black and Brown community-based initiatives that support true safety, health, and well-being.

The ACLU is working to support Black- and Brown-led community organizations to implement changes such as:

Stop enforcement of a range of non-serious offenses and eliminate many of the unnecessary interactions between the police and community members. Police should not be the ones responding to mental health crises. Reinvest savings from a reduced police force into alternatives to policing that will keep local communities safe and help them thrive. Implement common-sense, legally-enforceable constraints such as a civilian-led Use-of-Force review board so that there are very rare instances in which police officers can use force against community members.

Indianapolis mayor

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett is introduced to speak during a demonstration for racial justice at the Indiana Statehouse, Saturday, June 6, 2020.(Photo: Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar)

I will never forget watching the video of George Floyds killing. This moment, captured on camera, was horrifying not only because of what it depicted the murder of a citizen at the hands of his government but also because it was impossible to avoid.

For far too long, white Americans have been able to justify turning a blind eye to the ways in which our Black neighbors face racism and discrimination. Suddenly, that wasnt possible.

The results of this reckoning have been equally inescapable: anguished voices singing in chorus; solemn heads bowed in prayer; fists raised in resistance; overflowing tears from eyes exhausted by the sight of pain.

We have also watched people who feel like justice has been denied through delay. Neighbors who are fed up and angry. Who feel that they are not heard when they are peaceful, and this leaves them no choice but to act out.

Indianapolis has been forced to confront the reality of our countrys original sin: government that was designed to privilege one race at the expense of all others. Time will not heal these wounds after four centuries, that should be apparent.

It is not enough to acknowledge systemic racism. You dont get a participation ribbon in the fight against injustice for identifying the problem. And this isnt just about outdated policies; we wont dismantle institutional racism through bureaucracy alone.

What we need in Indianapolis is a process of healing that is not implemented but lived. Lived especially by white residents. A personal responsibility to dedicate our daily existence to change that begins within and flows forth in every way we can.

Then, and only then, can we begin the process of lifting the yoke off the backs of our Black neighbors and assume the weight of our own obligation to reconcile and rebuild.

Marriage and Family Therapist, Managing Director of Project L.E.A.S.T., Family and Community Partners, LLC

Thaddeus Shelton(Photo: Submitted)

First things first, the use of the word "minorities" to discuss people is absolutely the language of oppression, and it does have psychological bearing on the outcome of your inquiry. Secondly, the structure of racism and white supremacy has historically relied on brutality and mistreatment against all racial and gender locations to maintain itself. Thirdly, it seems as if the need to use labels to describe these differences in the human family is also problematic. Though your question proposes to look at solutions, it definitely has a problem focus at it's root.

In this moment we should seek to eliminate the need to "capitalize" and seek to "cooperate" with one another. So to answer the question, we need to learn to value people in community versus staunch individualism, competition and privilege which has caused the demise of the great experiment spoken of at the founding of this nation. The great competition has caused destruction across global ecosystems and now threatens to cause even more damage as we go about "getting ours". As much as we say this dynamic creates "winners" it always leaves behind a vast field of "losers" more than anything else.

Support Black business/entrepreneurship, by making the requirements of access to financial resources counteract the historically skewed/racialized way that risk is assessed in lending. Realize that if so-called minorities have access the cities/countries economy will be much stronger. If a person in public service has a history of being racist they should be removed from their position. Stop propping up mediocre white men and grooming them for leadership while grooming the balance of the populous for service under them. Each citizen should notice their own biases, and do the personal work needed to evolve versus practicing the base, savagery of capitalism, and colonization.

Executive Director, Jewish Community Relations Council

Lindsey Mintz, executive director of Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council(Photo: Provided by Lindsey Mintz)

If this moment is going to lead into a new chapter in our countrys civil rights journey, and if Indianapolis is going to become a better place for all its residents, then the work of dismantling systemic racism must be sustained on both the individual and collective levels.

Organized activism and strategic advocacy that supports significant changes in laws, policies, and practices is obviously required. Calling for elected leaders to act with a sense of urgency is critical. National elections are important, but often structural systems are under the control of state and local authorities. Voting and ensuring the ready access to the vote are key.

Activism is an outgrowth of learning, and learning is the result of resilient listening. While some people may not see themselves as an activist, every person can work on listening to voices and honoring the experiences of someone not like themselves.

The Jewish community is not separate from the fight for racial equity because the fight for racial equity includes cherished members of our own community, which is why we are committed to lifting up the voices of Black Jews.

We each need to look inward and acknowledge our own prejudices, educate ourselves, and do the work to be anti-racist. This work is not easy, and it is not simple. It is a lifelong undertaking. Racism has existed in our country for hundreds of years and it cannot be eradicated in a matter of months

The Jewish community will work as long as it takes, both individually and communally, in public and in private, to fight for equity, justice, and the right of all people, regardless of the color of their skin, to live without fear and to thrive.

Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent

A day after laying his brother George Floyd to rest, Philonise Floyd testified before Congress and asked what a Black mans life is worth. The question of the worth of a life should trouble us all.

Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Aleesia Johnson poses for a portrait at her Indianapolis office on Wednesday, June 17, 2020.(Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar)

Here in Indiana, our different valuing of lives starts early. Black infants are more than twice as likely than white babies to die before their first birthday. Black and Latinx children are 2-3 times more likely to live in poverty than white children. And, heartbreakingly, Black children make up 13.1% of all youth in Indiana, but a staggering 32.8% of youth in state prisons.

In a recent conversation with my daughter, I tried to contextualize why protests were happening. I took us through a brief but powerful history of the societal treatment of Black people since we arrived to this land enslavement, Jim Crow, mass incarceration. She asked me: Mommy, what did we do to be treated like this? My answer, which was a simple and truthful Nothing confounded her even more.

So, in this moment, let us find the courage, the will, to face our painful history. To name the ways in which our institutions have, both past and present, perpetuated the myth that the lives of Black people arent as valuable.

What it will take is a newfound and genuine commitment to focus help, attention and resources on those in greatest need. To look at our fellow citizens and genuinely believe that liberty and justice for all is more than just a patriotic phrase. It will require us to sustain that commitment beyond a single, intense moment, into the months and years ahead. Im raising my hand to lead our schools into that challenge.

I hope youll join me. Learn how at http://www.myips.org.

Editor of Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper

To make Indianapolis a better place we need to be honest. That's the first step. We need to be honest about how we got here.

This isn't about making white people feel guilty about the past, but it's about acknowledging we don't live in a vacuum and today's issues didn't arise out of nowhere.

Oseye Boyd, editor of Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper and Indiana Minority Business Magazine(Photo: Provided by Oseye Boyd)

Once we take a hard look at our city, we can assess and work toward equity and inclusion for all. It's a simple concept but hard to achieve. Assessment means looking at every area business, education, government, policing and incarceration, etc. built on systemic racism and dismantling it.

It's nothing short of revolutionary and won't be done in a few years. However, it must be done if everyone is to fully participate in the American Dream. For African Americans, this is a long time coming. Not only do we deserve to be treated with humanity, we deserve to be fully included in the country our ancestors built through free labor.

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What prominent community members say should be done to make Indiana better for everyone - IndyStar

When Peruvian government forces began eradicating coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine, without warning in a remote corner of Perus principal coca growing region last November, they were met by growers armed with sticks and rocks. The security forces backing the eradication brigades responded by firing bullets and tear gas, seriously wounding five farmers.

We have an abusive government. They hit hard at the coca growers They shot at us with tear gas, with high calibre weapons, community leader Rben Leiva told us.

Drug crop production is primarily thought of as a crime and security issue. But most people are forced into production due to poverty and lack of opportunities in the legal economy.

For 40 years, policies in Peru have prioritised forced eradication of coca leaf under intense pressure from the US government. Weak economies, farmers turned into outlaws, and human rights violations are the result of this militarised crop and drug control strategy.

Coca production has not shrunk overall, merely shifting its location, often through extensive replanting, which aggravates deforestation. Global cocaine manufacture in 2017 reached its highest level ever: an estimated 1,976 tons, more than double the amount recorded in 2013, guaranteeing the flow of drugs northward.

These negative outcomes have stimulated regional debate around the violence, corruption and instability fuelled by current drug policies. Bolivia has emerged as a world leader in promoting a new model based on farmer participation and non-violence.

Beginning in 2004, successive governments have allowed growers to cultivate a restricted amount of coca leaf, with compliance conducted by local coca grower unions themselves. This coca leaf is sold to registered intermediaries and domestic markets as a mild stimulant, similar to caffeine. The leaf also packs a powerful punch of nutrients such as calcium and vitamin C.

This community-based model has proven more effective in reducing coca acreage than police and military repression, and has extended social and civil rights in previously peripheral regions. Government investment, gender equity policies, and the 2013 international recognition of Bolivians right to consume the leaf domestically have strengthened local stability.

In turn, this has encouraged economic diversification away from coca. In Bolivia, 23,100 hectares were under coca cultivation in 2018, less than half that in Peru.

The programme is recognised as a best practice by the Organisation of American States. The United Nations Development Programme reported in 2019 that:

By recognizing coca cultivation as a legitimate source of income, the [Bolivian] government has helped stabilize household incomes and placed farmers in a better position to assume the risk of substituting illicit crops with alternative crops or livestock.

While drug crop policy was undergoing profound change in Bolivia, neighbouring Peru continued eradication-based strategies designed and (until 2011) funded by the US.

Perus programmes experience the same problems as Bolivias before 2004 when it changed tack, but within a context of greater violence both by the state and insurgent forces. Perus growers have endured repeated cycles of forced eradication, failed development and violence by the state, insurgents and drug traffickers.

An urgency to trying something different led some Peruvian coca growers and their organisations to travel to Bolivias coca growing regions in 2019. Three delegations from six regions spoke with coca farmers, visited state-financed projects to promote alternative crops and fish farming and met with Bolivian officials, including the head of the anti-narcotics police and members of congress.

They came away with a solid understanding of what Bolivias community control could offer. Grower organisations subsequently educated their members about the model, as well as proposing its possible adoption with the European Union and the state coca crop control organisation (DEVIDA).

We could do a pilot project of the Bolivian model here, insisted grower leader Marianne Zavala from Perus Junin province. I know it would work well and we really want to try this.

But for Bolivias model to have any hope of success in Peru, two obstacles must be addressed. Perus rural union structures lack the grassroots cohesion that has proven critical in Bolivia. Coca grower organisations in Peru, as well as local municipalities, will need extensive training and capacity building, as well as assistance in forging a regional and national consensus on an alternative approach.

This challenge is compounded by the inordinately high distrust among Perus rural populations, including coca growers, towards the state, particularly the security forces and DEVIDA. Bolivias experience offers ideas for how this mistrust can be diminished.

Bolivian coca growers designed the community control policy, staffed related state institutions, and have seen their own political representatives in positions of power. They emphasised political participation to their Peruvian counterparts. We could never have reached as far if we had only worked as a growers union, Bolivian leader Felipe Martinez told the Peruvians.

But the destabilisation of Bolivia in November 2019, when President Evo Morales was ousted after accusations of conducting a fraudulent election, highlights how dependent community-based control of coca is on the commitment of the government in power.

The anti-Morales interim Aez government has threatened a return to forced eradication so as to undermine local unions loyal to Morales. It has killed nine people during a coca grower protest, and continues threats towards growers leaders under the guise of combating drug trafficking.

The trust that coca growers once had in government has evaporated, and with it the underpinnings of community control. This holds an important lesson. If a government continues to treat coca growers as enemies people whom policies should act upon rather than collaborate with then the violence, failed development and coca cultivation will continue unabated.

See the rest here:

Peru's war on drugs is an abject failure here's what it can learn from Bolivia - The Conversation UK

(MENAFN - The Conversation) When Peruvian government forces began eradicating coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine, without warning in a remote corner of Peru's principal coca growing region last November, they were met by growers armed with sticks and rocks. The security forces backing the eradication brigades responded by firing bullets and tear gas, seriously wounding five farmers .

'We have an abusive government. They hit hard at the coca growers They shot at us with tear gas, with high calibre weapons,' community leader Rben Leiva told us.

Drug crop production is primarily thought of as a crime and security issue. But most people are forced into production due to poverty and lack of opportunities in the legal economy.

For 40 years, policies in Peru have prioritised forced eradication of coca leaf under intense pressure from the US government. Weak economies, farmers turned into outlaws, and human rights violations are the result of this militarised crop and drug control strategy.

Coca production has not shrunk overall , merely shifting its location, often through extensive replanting, which aggravates deforestation . Global cocaine manufacture in 2017 reached its highest level ever: an estimated 1,976 tons, more than double the amount recorded in 2013 , guaranteeing the flow of drugs northward .

These negative outcomes have stimulated regional debate around the violence, corruption and instability fuelled by current drug policies. Bolivia has emerged as a world leader in promoting a new model based on farmer participation and non-violence.

Beginning in 2004, successive governments have allowed growers to cultivate a restricted amount of coca leaf, with compliance conducted by local coca grower unions themselves. This coca leaf is sold to registered intermediaries and domestic markets as a mild stimulant, similar to caffeine. The leaf also packs a powerful punch of nutrients such as calcium and vitamin C.

This community-based model has proven more effective in reducing coca acreage than police and military repression, and has extended social and civil rights in previously peripheral regions. Government investment, gender equity policies, and the 2013 international recognition of Bolivians right to consume the leaf domestically have strengthened local stability.

In turn, this has encouraged economic diversification away from coca. In Bolivia, 23,100 hectares were under coca cultivation in 2018, less than half that in Peru.

The programme is recognised as a ' best practice ' by the Organisation of American States. The United Nations Development Programme reported in 2019 that:

While drug crop policy was undergoing profound change in Bolivia, neighbouring Peru continued eradication-based strategies designed and (until 2011) funded by the US.

Peru's programmes experience the same problems as Bolivia's before 2004 when it changed tack, but within a context of greater violence both by the state and insurgent forces . Peru's growers have endured repeated cycles of forced eradication, failed development and violence by the state, insurgents and drug traffickers.

An urgency to trying something different led some Peruvian coca growers and their organisations to travel to Bolivia's coca growing regions in 2019. Three delegations from six regions spoke with coca farmers, visited state-financed projects to promote alternative crops and fish farming and met with Bolivian officials, including the head of the anti-narcotics police and members of congress.

They came away with a solid understanding of what Bolivia's community control could offer. Grower organisations subsequently educated their members about the model, as well as proposing its possible adoption with the European Union and the state coca crop control organisation (DEVIDA).

'We could do a pilot project of the Bolivian model here,' insisted grower leader Marianne Zavala from Peru's Junin province. 'I know it would work well and we really want to try this.'

But for Bolivia's model to have any hope of success in Peru, two obstacles must be addressed. Peru's rural union structures lack the grassroots cohesion that has proven critical in Bolivia. Coca grower organisations in Peru, as well as local municipalities, will need extensive training and capacity building, as well as assistance in forging a regional and national consensus on an alternative approach.

This challenge is compounded by the inordinately high distrust among Peru's rural populations, including coca growers, towards the state, particularly the security forces and DEVIDA. Bolivia's experience offers ideas for how this mistrust can be diminished .

Bolivian coca growers designed the community control policy, staffed related state institutions, and have seen their own political representatives in positions of power. They emphasised political participation to their Peruvian counterparts. 'We could never have reached as far if we had only worked as a growers' union,' Bolivian leader Felipe Martinez told the Peruvians.

But the destabilisation of Bolivia in November 2019, when President Evo Morales was ousted after accusations of conducting a fraudulent election, highlights how dependent community-based control of coca is on the commitment of the government in power.

The anti-Morales interim Aez government has threatened a return to forced eradication so as to undermine local unions loyal to Morales. It has killed nine people during a coca grower protest, and continues threats towards growers' leaders under the guise of combating drug trafficking.

The trust that coca growers once had in government has evaporated, and with it the underpinnings of community control. This holds an important lesson. If a government continues to treat coca growers as enemies people whom policies should act upon rather than collaborate with then the violence, failed development and coca cultivation will continue unabated.

MENAFN3005202001990000ID1100245767

Read the original:

Peru's war on drugs is an abject failure here's what it can learn from Bolivia - MENAFN.COM

LITTLE ROCK -- Bobby Banks, a former gang leader in Little Rock who was convicted in 2006 of running a large drug-trafficking organization, was entitled last year to have his 55-year sentence reduced by 15 years, a federal appeals court said Thursday in affirming the reduction.

The three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis upheld an April 2019 ruling of U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, who has since retired.

Holmes granted a request from Lisa Peters, chief federal public defender for the Eastern District of Arkansas, to apply the First Step Act of 2018 to Banks' case. It expanded the application of sentencing reductions that were first authorized in 2010 to counteract a sentencing disparity for crimes involving crack and powder cocaine.

The disparities stemmed from the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, passed during the national "War on Drugs" to strengthen drug penalties. Congress found that the 1986 law treated crack cocaine crimes 100% more severely than crimes involving the same amount of powdered cocaine, resulting in unwarranted sentencing disparities based on race.

The 2018 law created new avenues for people convicted under the 1986 law to seek sentence reductions.

Banks was convicted on Feb. 7, 2006, of conspiring to distribute more than 5 kilograms of powder cocaine and more than 50 grams of crack cocaine, among other crimes. He had operated three crack houses in Little Rock and was known as "Big C," which referred to his leadership of the 23rd Street Crips gang. He had been featured prominently in a 1994 HBO documentary titled Gang War: Bangin' in Little Rock.

Peters asked Holmes to reduce Banks' sentence to 20 years, but he said 40 years was appropriate based on current federal sentencing guidelines.

Peters appealed, seeking a further reduction, and the U.S. attorney's office in Little Rock cross-appealed, saying Banks wasn't eligible for a sentence reduction.

In 2006, sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence for Banks, but U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr., now deceased, imposed a 55-year sentence instead.

The 8th Circuit panel consisted of U.S. circuit judges Steven Colloton of Des Moines, Iowa; Bobby Shepherd of El Dorado; and Ralph Erickson of Fargo, N.D.

NW News on 05/30/2020

Print Headline: Ruling upheld to cut 15 years off drug term

The rest is here:

Ruling upheld to cut 15 years off drug term - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A Minneapolis Police Office advances on a crowd of protesters while wearing riot gear, Friday, May 29, 2020, in St. Paul, Minn. (John Minchillo / AP Photo)

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The explosion of protest across the United States in recent days makes clear that the crisis in Minneapolis is a national crisis. Its been almost six years since the murders of Mike Brown and Eric Garner, and little has changed in how poor communities of color are being policed. Its time to rethink superficial and ineffective procedural police reforms and move to defund the police instead.Ad Policy

In the immediate aftermath of Browns and Garners murders in Ferguson and New York City, the Obama administration responded by calling for more federal investigations and ultimately issued a report, the Task Force on 20th Century Policing, that laid out a whole host of reformswhich I and others criticized at the time. These reforms were rooted in the concept of procedural justice, which argues that if the police enforce the law in a more professional, unbiased, and procedurally proper way, then the public will develop more trust in them and fewer violent confrontations and protests will ensue. This concept ends up taking the form of interventions like implicit bias training, police-community encounter sessions, tweaks to official use-of-force policies, and early warning systems to identify potentially problematic officers.

The Obama Justice Department used this framework to bring a small number of pattern and practice cases against select police departments, such as the one in Ferguson, to compel them to adopt these measures. It also poured millions of dollars into training and community relations initiatives like the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice, which included money for Minneapolis.

But these kinds of federal interventions have failed to show any signs of creating positive changes in policing. They typically involve establishing a monitor who creates a series of benchmarks; the metrics for these benchmarks tend to be based on the implementation of the recommendations and not actual changes in the impact of policing on those most intensively policed. An insider look at this process by Matt Nesvet, an auditor on a federal consent decree in New Orleans, showed just how pointless the whole endeavor was; as described by Nesvet in The Appeal, monitors required things like pictures of officers talking to community members as proof that community policing was being implemented.

Theres also no evidence that implicit bias training or community relations initiatives help. The Urban Institute, which was part of the National Initiative for Building Trust and Justice, evaluated the effort and found little to show for it. These kinds of reforms turn out to have a lot more to do with providing political cover for local police and politicians than with reducing the abuses of policing. In part, thats because they assume that the professional enforcement of the law is automatically beneficial to everyone. They never actually question the legitimacy of using police to wage a war on drugs, arrest young children in school, criminalize homelessness, or label young people as gang bangers and super-predators to be incarcerated for life or killed in the streets. A totally lawful, procedurally proper, and perfectly unbiased low-level drug arrest is still going to ruin some young persons life for no good reason. There is no justice in thatand giving narcotics units anti-bias training will do nothing to change this fact.

Many of these reforms have been implemented in Minneapolis. In 2018, the City issued a report outlining all the procedural justice reforms it has embraced, like mindfulness training, Crisis Intervention Training, implicit bias training, body cameras, early warning systems to identify problematic officers, and so on. They have made no difference. In fact, local activist groups like Reclaim the Block, Black Visions Collective, and MPD 150 have rejected more training and oversight as a solution and are now calling on Mayor Jacob Frey to cut the police budget by $45 million and shift those resources into community-led health and safety strategies.

Unfortunately, at the national level, Democratic members of Congress appear to have learned few lessons from the failures of six years of police reform. One by one, they have condemned racist policing and called for investigations and accountability. Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez called out the names of those killed in recent years, but failed to offer any substantive proposals other than a vague call for justice. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who consistently refused to prosecute police when she helmed the Hennepin County attorneys office, called for more DOJ pattern and practice investigations. And in a May 29 resolution condemning police brutality, even Ilhan Omar, whose district includes Minneapolis, and Ayanna Pressleyfailed to propose a single significant reduction in specific police powers, preferring to call for more investigations and the establishment of more civilian review boards, which have never shown any effectiveness in reducing abusive policing. (A more valuable model can be found in legislation Pressley herself introduced in November 2019. Called the Peoples Justice Guarantee, the legislation puts forward a number of worthy proposals, including decriminalizing the police and redirecting resources to alternatives to policing;Omar is a cosponsor.)Current Issue

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These strategies will do nothing to change the basic mission of policing that has expanded so dramatically over the past 40 years. Another DOJ investigation, another officer fired or indicted, wont end the war on drugs, the criminalization of the poor, or the demonization of young people of color.

If congressional lawmakers are serious about reining in abusive policing, there are things they can do at the federal level. They can start by eliminating the Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) office. Created by the 1994 Crime Bill, it has been the central conduit for funds to hire tens of thousands of new police and equip them with a range of surveillance technology and militarized equipment.

One of the projects it currently administers is Operation Relentless Pursuit, the Trump administrations signature crime-fighting initiative, that is set to flood seven major cities with scores of federal agents in partnership with local police to go after the presidents favorite bugaboos of gangs and drug cartels. Congress approved $61 million to pay for it, and that money should be taken out of any future appropriations. Lawmakers can also take more steps to undo the damage done by the 1994 Crime Bill, like defunding school policing in favor of providing more counselors and restorative justice programs; investing in harm reduction strategies, like safe-injection facilities and needle exchanges, as well as high-quality medically based drug treatment on demand; and rethinking the use of the criminal justice system to manage the epidemic of domestic violence.

It is time for the federal government, major foundations, and local governments to stop trying to manage problems of poverty and racial discrimination by wasting millions of dollars on pointless and ineffective procedural reforms that merely provide cover for the expanded use of policing. Its time for everyone to quit thinking that jailing one more killer cop will do anything to change the nature of American policing. We must move, instead, to significantly defund the police and redirect resources into community-based initiatives that can produce real safety and security without the violence and racism inherent in the criminal justice system.

Editors note: an earlier version of this article stated that Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar had failed to propose a single significant reduction in specific police power. In fact, as the article now states, Rep. Pressley introduced, and Rep.Omar supports, legislation calling for police power to be curtailed through a variety of means. We regret the error.

See the original post here:

The Only Solution Is to Defund the Police - The Nation

Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pins George Floyd's neck with his knee, eventually causing his death (Darnella Frazier, AP).

The brutal recent killing of African-American George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer has sparked outrage at police abuses, and led to rioting and looting in many cities around the country, as well as peaceful protests. It's understandable if many peopleparticularly minoritiesfeel a sense of anger, frustration, and hopelessness in the wake of these events, which come in the midst of a terrible pandemic. I sometimes feel that way myself.

But there is much that can be done to curb police abuses. The task is difficult, but far from hopeless. On the other hand, rioting and looting are not only wrong in themselves, but likely to have counterproductive effects.

I. What Can be Done

All too often, police get away with brutal treatment of civilians, particularly poor minorities. The problem is not that police officers are unusually bad people. It's that they have bad incentives, under which they are rarely held accountable for abuses. Those incentives can and should be altered.

An important first step would be to get rid of the legal doctrine of "qualified immunity," under which law enforcement officers are immune from suits for violating citizens' constitutional rights unless the officers' actions violate "clearly established" law. The Supreme Court interprets the term "clearly established" so narrowly that officers routinely get away with horrendous abuses merely because no federal court in their area has previously decided a case with essentially identical facts. Recent examples include stealing $225,000 from civilians and shooting a 10 year old boy in the course of an attempt to shoot the family dog (who posed no threat to the officer).

Qualified immunity is not required by the Constitution or even by a federal statute. It is a purely judge-made doctrine made up by the Supreme Court itself in a misguided effort to protect law enforcement officers from excessive litigation. University of Chicago law professor and Volokh Conspiracy co-blogger Will Baude explains why the doctrine lacks any valid legal basis in this excellent article.

The Court is right now considering taking several cases whose consideration could lead to the abolition or at least the narrowing of qualified immunity. Both Justice Clarence Thomas, the Court's most conservative member, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the most liberal, have been severely critical of qualified immunity. There is a real chance they can persuade at least three of their colleagues to take the same view.

Rolling back qualified immunity will not put an end to all police abuse. But it will make it possible to hold police accountable in court for egregious violations of civil rights, which in turn will alter their incentives.

Co-blogger Jonathan Adler rightly warns that state and local governments might respond by indemnifying police officers for the damages they have to pay in such cases. But even if that happens, it would still be a step in the right direction. Indemnification costs money that many local governments will be loathe to pay. They will therefore have an incentive to crack down on abusive officers, particularly repeat offenders who routinely force authorities to pay out large sums to settle claims.

As Adler also explains, empirical research shows that impunity for police abuses is often promoted by police unions. State and local governments should consider banning police unionization, or at least curbing unions' powers by, for example, eliminating disciplinary issues from the list of matters that are subject to collective bargaining. Whatever the merits of public-sector unions in other contexts, they create too much of a conflict of of interest in the case of employees who often literally wield the power of life and death over civilians.

Abolishing police unions or even limiting their power will not be easy. But progress is possible if liberal civil liberties advocates can work together with conservatives who dislike public sector unions more generally.

Police abuses can also be curbed by rolling backand eventually abolishingthe War on Drugs. Many of the worst police tactics and most dangerous confrontations with civilians (especially minorities in urban areas) are products of the War on Drugs. In his important book The Rise of the Warrior Cop, Radley Balko shows how the War on Drugs has been a major driver of the militarization of police, and of hyper-aggressive tactics that routinely lead to violence and abuse.

The recent trend towards legalization of marijuana in many states is a good start. We should build on that and begin cutting back on the rest of the War on Drugs, as well. In 2011, the NAACP called for an end to the War on Drugs because it causes great harm to minority communities. Police abuse is a major part of that harm.

Finally, we can also reduce police abuse and improve relations between law enforcement and minority communities by curbing the widespread practice of racial profiling. A 2019 Pew Research Center poll found that some 59% of black men and 31% of black women say they have been unfairly stopped by police because of their race.

Almost every black male I know can recount experiences of racial profiling by law enforcement. Admittedly, the people I know are not a representative sample. But given that I am a law professor, my African-American acquaintances are disproportionately affluent and highly educated. Working-class blacks likely experience racial profiling even more often.

If you don't trust survey data or take the word of my friends and acquaintances, take that of conservative Republican African-American Senator Tim Scott, who has movingly recounted multiple incidents in which he was racially profiled by police. Even being a powerful GOP politician is not enough for a black man to avoid such mistreatment.

It is not hard to see how racial profiling increases the risks of violence between police and racial minorities, and more generally breeds hostility between the two groups.

Reducing racial profiling is a very difficult task. In many cases, it is hard to tell whether it really occurred or not. The issue likely deserves a post of its own, which I hope to find time to do in the future.

For now, I will only emphasize that this is an issue we cannot afford to ignore. This is particularly true for conservatives whorightlyadvocate color-blind government policies in other contexts. For many years, I have repeatedly argued that color-blindness advocates on the right must not turn a blind eye to racial profiling in law enforcement. If you truly believe that government should not discriminate on the basis of race, you cannot tolerate a glaring exception to that principle when it comes to those government officials who carry badges and guns, and have the power to kill, injure, and arrest people. Otherwise, your position will be glaringly inconsistent, and many will suspect that your supposed concerns about discrimination only arise when whites are the victims, as in the case of affirmative action programs.

The reforms described here may not be easy to achieve. But they are feasible. Qualified immunity and the War on Drugs have already come under serious challenge, and there is room for plenty of additional progress.

We can also learn from the increasingly successful campaign to curb abusive asset forfeiture, the practice under which law enforcement can seize the property of (often innocent) civilians -a practice that, like police brutality, disproportionately harms minorities and the poor. Thanks to the efforts of a cross-ideological coalition of reformers, including libertarians, liberals, and even some conservatives, many states have enacted reform laws, and courts have begun to crack down on the practice. Much remains to be done to fully address the problem of asset forfeiture abuse. But the progress achieved so far can be a model for other efforts to curb law enforcement abuses.

II. Why Rioting is Not the Answer

Much can be done to roll back abusive law enforcement practices. The ideas described above are far from exhaustive. But one tactic that must be avoided is the kind of rioting and looting that has occurred over the last few days. Such actions are not only wrong in themselves, but also likely to be counterproductive.

Most of the damage caused by rioting is inflicted on innocent people who are in no way responsible for police abuses. Destruction and looting of stores and other businesses not only hurts the owners and employees of those enterprises, but also impoverishes the broader communities of which they are a part. Violence and violation of property rights reduce investment and economic development, which predictably exacerbates the poverty of minority inner-city neighborhoods. The negative economic effects can persist for many years.

It may be tempting to say that rioting and other similar violence is justified if you are doing it in the name of a just cause. But even people with legitimate grievances must still observe moral limits on tactics they use to pursue them. Ignoring this principle is a recipe for disaster.

Many of the worst atrocities in world history were perpetrated by groups who themselves had legitimate grievances. Soviet communists had legitimate complaints about the injustices of czarist Russia. Their disregard for moral constraints still contributed to mass murder on a horrific scale. German nationalists in the 1920s and 30s had legitimate grievances about the injustices of the Treaty of Versailles. That in no way justifies what they did in response. Being a victim of injustice cannot be a license to perpetrate injustices on others, especially people who did not perpetrate the wrongs you suffered.

Obviously, currently ongoing riots are nowhere near as bad as the actions of the Nazis and communists. But the same general principle applies: we should be wary of perpetrating new evils in the name of addressing the old.

It is admittedly possible there are situations where committing a wrong is the only way to address an even greater injustice. But this is not such a case. There are more constructive ways to curb police abuses. Moreover, rioting is likely to make the problem worse, rather than better.

Rioting and other violent racial protests in the 1960s not only failed to curb police abuses, but actually boosted support for "tough on crime" politicians who advocated giving cops more of a free hand. When white swing voters see riots on TV, many of them react by supporting harsh tactics to restore "law and order." Such reactions may be wrong. But they are predictable and difficult or impossible to avoid.

In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. warned that "riots are socially destructive and self-defeating" and that, "[e]very time a riot develops, it helps George Wallace." Today, they are likely to give a boost to Donald Trump and other politicians who support cruel law enforcement tactics. We would do well to heed King's warning. Pursuing reform by peaceful means is both more just and more likely to be effective than resorting to violence against innocent people.

UPDATE: I have made a few small additions to this post.

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How to Curb Police AbusesAnd How Not to - Reason

Manila (CNN Philippines Life) Kapag sinabi nilang may aswang, ang ibig sabihin nila: matakot ka.

The central metaphor of the newest full-length documentary on the Duterte administrations war on drugs campaign isnt just apt; it resonates true to the Filipino experience, like a gong in any locals psyche.

As the first Filipino-directed full-length documentary, it draws parallels with the aswang not just as a vampiric, shape-shifting monster of folklore, but also as a CIA creation for fear-mongering, and as a real-life marauder that mimics the behavior of something out of lower mythology, disguised and clandestine.

Even now during the community quarantine, there are rumors that Iloilo and West Visayan officials are using aswang scare tactics to help impose the curfew against the locals.

In the late 2010s, director Alyx Ayn Arumpac was in Europe for a few years, completing her Docnomads Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Lisbon, Budapest, and Brussels. But she came home in 2015 sans job, later on witnessing how Rodrigo Duterte was elected president. To make ends meet, she took projects and production gigs, while she accompanied her friend, the photojournalist Raffy Lerma (both were former Philippine Collegian colleagues), to his nightwatch rounds on the police and city beats, curious about the rumors of extrajudicial killings.

What Arumpac witnessed on those ride-alongs convinced her of the need for a Filipino perspective on tokhang. Her full-length documentary would not just tackle the emotional heft of the horrid event, but also attempt an expression of her feelings on it that might, she hoped, eventually exorcise her own demons.

From 2016 until post-production in 2019, Arumpac and her crew took to the streets from late night to dawn and bore witness. This was the seed of "Aswang," a joint effort from institutions in France, Norway, Qatar, and Germany that pooled their resources and funding for its completion. First shown at the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), it was supposed to have its local premiere in March 2020s Daang Dokyu festival before the lockdown against COVID-19 cancelled all events.

The documentary follows characters whose fates entwine with the growing violence during two years of killings in Manila. The two central ones are Brother Jun Santiago of the Redemptorist Brothers and the young street kid Jomari.

Santiagoworks not just to document the killings but also helps in the funeral and burial fees for those who are left behind, often poor and almost destitute. While Jomari tells the story of the drug war kids, the orphans and the abandoned youth, since in Jomaris case both his mother and father are in prison for drug-related charges. Its pretty good serendip, too, that the filmmaker met Jomari at the wake of Kian Delos Santos.

There is a third character in this trinity: a woman who confesses to being imprisoned inside the secret jail behind the bookshelf and filing cabinet in a police station in Tondo. Like some ghost she only appears in shadow, close shots of her arms and hands as she draws the cramped layout of the cell on a notebook, filled to the nooks with her fellow prisoners.

"Aswang" can be a bit meandering at first, mostly since it assumes you know the major peaks and valleys of the tokhang chronicles from Kian Delos Santos murder and the rise of the tandem shooting modus, to the secret bookshelf jail and the funeral parlors that deal with the influx of the dead.

"Aswang" director Alyx Ayn Arumpac. Photo by MATTEO GARIGLIO

The two major, and arguably more popular, foreign-made documentaries on the drug war are National Geographics "The Nightcrawlers" (U.K.) and PBS Frontline's "On the President's Orders" (U.S.). Theyre mostly straightforward docus of the informative this-and-that-happened type, with talking heads and arms length objectivity. In Arumpacs narrative though is something innately magic realist, something that is innately Asian rather than Western in approach and tenor. This was made for those who couldnt escape the news, who lived daily with the threat of tandem riders.

"Aswang" is a meditation on the tokhang chronicles by a local, at once sublime and gruesome. What makes this different is its point of view: the perception by a Filipino for fellow Filipinos. The tone is quite liberating, making it free to reflect our own collective feelings of frustration, grief, horror, and utter bewilderment back at us.

That it is beautifully composed of imagery worthy of the caliber of a Hollywood movie or South Korean horror cinema, Arumpac credits to her cinematographer Tanya Haurylchyk, and her editors Anne Fabini and Fatima Bianchi. She states that they truly made the gritty visions look cinematically exquisite. For Arumpac though, there was a feeling of aestheticizing the horror, a distrust of the attractive imagery that happened to be bathed in the blood of real people. Its something that the director struggled with.

That you wish this was some fictional Bong Joon-Ho movie is part of why "Aswang" is so effective. Part of what makes it very Filipino is how it hits the emotive inflection points that the other major tokhang documentaries often only casually gloss over in favor of just-the-hard-facts.

"Aswang" never lets the facts get in the way of the truth, finding a way to conjure emotive exorcism without being sentimental or forgetting the plain bloodiness of it all. Arumpac obviously knew the tragedy and sorrow of her country and her fellow Filipinos intimately. Here, she has lovingly constructed an important, unredacted record for these dark times for our own use, free of pretense or agenda.

The film just won theAmnesty International Human Rights Award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The citation for the film said:[Aswang is a]powerful denouncement against state terror, resilient and painful humanitarian stories coming from different voices, enthralling connections between the popular myth of the Aswang monster and everyday violence, poverty and death looming in the cities. A cry of despair from the marginalized, pleading for justice and human rights.

In this interview, Arumpac, executive producer for GMA News and Current Affairs,talks about the making of this powerful and riveting documentary. Opinions expressed in this interview are the subjects.

"Aswang" never lets the facts get in the way of the truth, finding a way to conjure emotive exorcism without being sentimental or forgetting the plain bloodiness of it all. Photo courtesy of ASWANG 2019

Theres a really intimate and comforting feeling that pervades the film in its tone and vibe that it was made for Filipinos. How did you adjust and manage to toe that creative line?

I insisted on this form. I insisted on the aswang, on using the metaphor. And I was told off many times, mostly by my foreign producers. And then I was told, you know, maybe we can do instead a straight reportage? Or a straight film with talking heads and everything? Just so it could be bought by broadcasters.

I was just saying: No, I still want to do the aswang; I want to do the metaphor. I think that was also basically the guide for me as to how to film it, how to approach it. And then I was very fascinated with the connections as well, the spirituality of the Filipino, since the fact that my protagonist was a priest.

Throughout the process, especially during the first month I really tried digging through my thoughts and feelings. So after every shoot I would go home at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. and I would transfer material right away. Then I would write a bit about what happened during the day, sometimes just to make sure I had the names and locations right. Sometimes I would write about what happened. What I thought. What I felt.

Did you draw on personal experiences about the stories of the aswang?

I am from General Santos City and we lived beside a forest inside this subdivision, because it was a newly constructed subdivision. I was around eight years old, I think. One day the yaya of our neighbor said theres a sigbin [Visayan aswang variant] who roams around the village and lives in that forest. At night you need to sleep and you cant wake up, because if you do and you look at the window youll see red eyes and long nails. The windows back in the day were jalousie types. She said the sigbin would put its long clawed fingernails inside the window to get you. I was terrified for so long!

The documentary follows characters whose fates entwine with the growing violence during two years of killings in Manila. Photo courtesy of ASWANG 2019

The beauty of the cinematography really clashes with the bloody subject matter. Its a stark and very powerful contrast.

One of the things that I wrote [a few months in] and [still] remember: I was saying, you know, I always wanted to make cinematic films, beautiful films, but I wrote down that There's nothing beautiful about this. I mean, how can you make a good film out of this? Because there's nothing good about it. I even felt bad about trying to construct images, trying to construct a frame around this entire situation.

The idea of using a beast from folklore that scares makes this documentary very different and very Filipino. That kind of clarity in a nonfiction product is rare.

The entire idea of this war on drugs for me was finding a common enemy, finding a scapegoat. And that's what the president did there. No one liked the drug user and the drug dealer who would rape kids and [Duterte] made this narrative. It has always existed, but he made this narrative and then he made everyone go against this set of people. So that was his common enemy, the same way that previous generations think they went for the communists. That was very clear to me and this was also why I immediately went for this idea, as well, of the aswang.

While other foreign-made and major documentaries about the war on drugs are very different in approach, we think that Filipinos and those familiar with how the tokhang events and stories have gone may find something ritually therapeutic in watching this docu.

I have to say Filipinos will get it more. Filipinos will feel it more, and it was made that way. I didn't expect foreigners to understand all the connections of the images. But then I also had what you would call a target audience. I knew who I was making the film for, and the sooner that was clear to me then the easier I could make my decisions and the easier the rest of my team would get on board.

"Aswang" will soon be available on video-on-demand internationally.

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In this documentary, Duterte's drug war is a hunt for the aswang - CNN Philippines

Julian Ku analyzed Secretary of State Mike Pompeos refusal to certify that Hong Kong is autonomous from China.

Ganesh Sitaraman argued that to understand the conversation on U.S. policy toward China, its helpful to break down hawks and doves into more precise categories.

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast discussing Beijings proposed new national security law for Hong Kong and the ensuing protests:

Adam George analyzed Chinas failed attempt at mask diplomacy in Africa.

Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast discussing the FBIs pursuit of Chinese commercial spying with Mara Hvistendahl, investigative journalist at The Intercept:

Jordan Schneider also shared an episode of ChinaTalk discussing Hvistendahls recent book, The Scientist and the Spy: A True Story of China, the FBI, and Industrial Espionage:

Elliot Setzer shared the president's executive order on social media and Section 230.

Benjamin Wittes talked with Kate Klonick, Eugene Volokh, Jack Balkin and Quinta Jurecic in a live conversation with viewers of the daily YouTube show, In Lieu of Fun, about the executive order and what it means:

Patja Howell shared an episode of Rational Security discussing Twitters efforts to fact-check President Trump:

Margaret Taylor summarized the current state of FISA reform legislation in Congress.

Jake Laperruque criticized the Justice Departments argument that a provision giving greater power to amici arguing before the FISA Court could endanger national security.

Mikhaila Fogel shared transcripts of the December 2016 calls between former national security adviser Michael Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The calls are at the center of the ongoing criminal case against Flynn.

Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Benjamin Wittes debates the Flynn case with journalist Eli Lake, who makes the case that Michael Flynn was railroaded:

Patja Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring an interview with Steve Teles on his new book, Never Trump: The Revolt of the Conservative Elites:

David Kris discussed the hard national security choices an incoming Biden administration will face if Biden is elected.

Preston Lim analyzed a Canadian judges dismissal of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhous application to end hearings on her potential extradition to the United States.

Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast discussing a Malaysian law ostensibly aimed at stamping out disinformation with Gabrielle Lim, a researcher at Harvard Kennedy Schools Shorenstein Center:

Mara Revkin reviewed Darryl Lis The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenges of Solidarity."

Setzer shared an indictment from the Justice Department bringing charges against North Korean bank officials.

Omar Rahman argued that years of dereliction has left the Palestine Liberation Organization facing annexation without a plan.

Russell Miller analyzed a German Constitutional Court ruling that German espionage activity must conform to the countrys constitution, even if conducted overseas on non-German citizens.

Setzer shared a letter from White House counsel Pat Cipollone intended to offer a legal rationale for President Trumps firing of two inspectors general.

Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast discussing the SpaceX launch and the future of space law:

Patrick Hulme argued that while President Trump has the authority to decide whether to use force against Iran, Congress has taken steps that may make him unwilling to do so.

And Lester Munson shared an episode of Fault Lines discussing the current state of the global war on drugs with Kirsten Madison, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs:

And that was the week that was.

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The Week that Was: All of Lawfare in One Post - Lawfare

I am sure you are as outraged as I am over the murder of George Floyd during a violent arrest by police in Minneapolis. This brutality took place on the heels of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, who was chased and gunned down by armed white men while on a jog in Georgia, and the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, after police stormed her home and shot her while she was asleep in her bed.

These deaths did not take place in a vacuum. They bring into full view deeply entrenched systemic racism. Whats more, they took place amid staggering racial disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic and in our prison system. It is no wonder that the grief-stricken black community is raging in anger and pain.

This is a pivotal moment in our history. As we reboot the Jewish community in the post pandemic world, we must ask ourselves what kind of world we hope to live in and what can we do to safeguard a society that works for justice for all people. We cannot ignore what we witnessed in these videos and go on with business as usual.

The American Jewish community has a distinguished history of addressing the injustices in our nation. We are proud of our role during the Civil Rights era and our legacy of social action. However, resources for Jewish advocacy on civil rights issues have diminished over the past two decades. I hope that these recent incidents will serve as a call to action.

How can we use our influence and support to further the cause of justice? To answer this question, we must first reckon with the plight of the black community in America and the scale of the injustice and the grim statistics. Black Americans are three times more likely to be killed by police than White Americans. Over the past few years, more than 12 cases have received national attention. The criminal justice system and the war on drugs has disproportionately harmed black communities and has brought four decades of mass incarceration upon the nation. Black Americans make up only 13% of the U.S. population, yet they make up 33% of the nations prison population and are imprisoned five times the rate as white Americans.

In 2018, more black Americans were uninsured compared to white Americans, 9.7% compared to 5.4% among whites and reported higher [rates of discrimination] [https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletter-article/2018/sep/focus-reducing-racial-disparities-health-care-confronting], when seeking medical care. Those same inequities and pre-existing conditions are also part of the reason the black community is disproportionately harmed by COVID-19. In 2016, the average income of white American households was $171,000, which is 10 times more than black American households income of $17,100.

Here are some ideas for what the Jewish community can do to reduce racial inequality and systematic injustice:

We can speak out against racism and killings of black citizens by police and others. The Jewish community has an important role to play with law enforcement, as we have built relationships with them in securing our own community. We can heal the divide between law enforcement and the black community. At the same time, we can hold law enforcement accountable for the necessary cultural and systemic change.

We can recommit to building a just society by ending racism and racist policies and supporting equal opportunity for all people regardless of their race, religion or color of their skin. We must recognize that these disparities exist along racial lines and not pretend to be colorblind.

We must build and strengthen trusted relationships. Jewish and black communities need to have a deeper understanding of each others histories, traumas, and hopes for the future. While the Jewish community is impacted by growing anti-Semitism, the black community is harmed by bigotry and racism. Our shared history in fighting in the Civil Rights era can inspire a new generation of joint activism against it. While this was more than 60 years ago, it can energize us and provide a blueprint on how we can collaborate on todays challenges.

We must also advocate on issues of priority to the black community. We can play an important role in finding a solution to mass incarceration and several disparities in or criminal justice system. Philanthropies should invest in Jewish advocacy and anti-discrimination work.

We must nurture relationships with emerging leaders of both communities and prioritize the voices of Black Jewish leaders. We must acknowledge that there are Jewish people of all races and make sure that Jews of Color feel fully supported within the Jewish community. Black Jews may feel less welcome in spaces with increased police presence.

Finally, we must educate the Jewish Community about the challenges faced by the black community, so we become motivated to act.

While the Jewish community contemplates our next steps of rebuilding what was lost in the pandemic, there is a tremendous opportunity to play a role in creating a better society for everyone.

Melanie Roth Gorelick is the senior Vice President of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.

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My fellow Jews: Get in the fight - Forward

The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down a lot of things, but U.S. arms sales are not one of them.Since March, the Trump administration has made over$9 billionin major offers in 15 separate deals.But its not just about the money, its about whom were arming.

A case in point is the Philippines, where the Duterte regime is one of the worlds most aggressive human rights abusers.Over27,000people have been killed in the governments war on drugs, many of them by the police and military or government-affiliated death squads. People are being gunned down in the streets without benefit of a trial or formal charges.And the victims have included lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and trade unionists whose only crime has been opposing the regimes repressive practices.

Despite this record, the Philippine military is slated to receive apackageof attack helicopters, bombs and missiles worth up to $1.5 billion.This comes on the heels of offers of firearms last year that included pistols and semi-automatic rifles for the Philippine armed forces.The helicopters are likely to be used in Dutertes scorched earth counterinsurgency campaign on the island of Mindanao, where450,000 peoplehave been driven from their homes by indiscriminate aerial attacks. As the U.S. State Department has noted in its annual human rightsreport, the killings have included environmentalists and land rights activists with no connection to the armed opponents of the government.

If anything, the regimes repression has gotten worse during the pandemic, with over30,000people arrested for alleged violations of social distancing rules, many of them herded into overcrowded prisons orplaced in dog cages,where they are at far greater risk of contracting COVID-19.Meanwhile, President Duterte has been granted emergency powers akin to martial law and has used them to harshly crack down on critics of the regime, including news outlets that dare to raise questions about its mishandling of the pandemic. Even voluntary aid groups that have been providing food aid to people not reached by the governments inadequate assistance programs have been harassed andarrestedby the police and military.

The Philippine deal is just one of many examples of the Trump administrations penchant for arming authoritarian regimes, often citing the economic benefits of weapons exports, which it gives preference over human rights and security concerns.Just this week Sen. Robert MenendezRobert (Bob) MenendezGovernment watchdog: 'No evidence' Pompeo violated Hatch Act with Kansas trips No time to be selling arms to the Philippines Senate panel approves Trump nominee under investigation MORE (D-N.J.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,revealedthat there is a deal in the works to sell more precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, which is waging a brutal war in Yemen in which it has killed thousands of civilians in air strikes carried out with U.S. aircraft and bombs.Last year Congress voted to block a similar deal, only to have its action vetoed by President TrumpDonald John TrumpDonald Trump and Joe Biden create different narratives for the election The hollowing out of the CDC Poll: Biden widens lead over Trump to 10 points MORE.

And thats not all. In addition to the offer of attack helicopters to the Philippines, the Trump administration is seeking to close deals for thousands of armored vehicles to the United Arab Emirates, which has been implicated in running secrettorture sitesin Yemen,divertingU.S.-supplied weapons to extremist militias and members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and arming opposition forces in Libya in violation of a United Nations arms embargo.

The administration is also offering upgraded Apache attack helicopters toEgypt, where the al-Sisi regime haskilledthousands of non-violent opponents and thrown tens of thousands of critics in jail, even as it wages a harsh counterterror campaign marked by arbitrary arrests, torture, the forced removal of thousands of people from their homes and the bombing of civilian targets.

Several members of Congress are organizing a letter to Secretary of State Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Esper demanding a delay in the flood of arms sales announced in the past few months to allow Congress adequate time to be briefed on and carefully consider each of them. In an ideal world, Congress would block all of the sales specifically mentioned above, which are likely to cause suffering in the recipient countries even as they undermine long-term U.S. interests in peace and stability in key regions. But its not an easy task.It currently takes a veto proof majority two-thirds of both houses of Congress to stop an arms sale. The procedure should be reversed, so that major arms sales cannot go forward without explicit congressional approval.

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised serious questions about how best to protect the United States and the world.Mindlessly trafficking in weapons to questionable regimes is just one of the things that needs to change.

William D. Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy.

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No time to be selling arms to the Philippines | TheHill - The Hill

Minneapolis protestors outside of a burning Arbys, Friday, May 29, 2020. Image:John Minchillo / AP

A proper understanding of urban rebellion depends on our ability to interpret it not as a wave of criminality, but as political violence.

Thursday evening, protestors in Minneapolis seized the city polices third precinct building and set fire to it. The immediate cause of the flames is a devastating incident of state violence with deep historical roots: on Monday, a white police officer jammed his knee into the neck of George Floyd, a black resident, for several minutes as three other officers held Floyds body down on the street. In his final moments, Floydunarmed and in handcuffspled for his life and repeatedly informed the officer and the crowd of bystanders that he couldnt breathe.

It can be a struggle to imagine some of the most overpoliced, marginalized, and isolated Americans as political actors.

Minneapolis residents have become all too familiar with this type of premature death. The city has been rocked by officer-involved shootings in recent years and subsequent protest. In 2015 two Minneapolis police officers faced no repercussions for shooting and killing Jamar Clark, a twenty-four-year-old black man. In 2016 police killed Philando Castile, a thirty-two-year-old black man, in nearby Falcon Heights, an encounter that was captured on social media and received national attention. A jury ultimately acquitted the officer who took Castiles life, but its not as if Minneapolis police are completely above the law. A black Minneapolis officer killed a forty-year-old white woman in 2017 and is currently serving a twelve-and-a-half-year sentence in prison.

Thousands took to the streets in peaceful protest the night after Floyd died, demanding justice for his life. Demanding that, this time, the officers involved be held fully accountable for their actions. By Wednesday none of the officers involved in Floyds death faced criminal charges. Authorities have so far declined to prosecute any of the four men.

Minneapolis residents, in turn, responded to the buildup of unanswered grievances and the lack of concrete changes to their immediate living conditionsproblems of under-protection, intentional segregation, and structural exclusion that have only been exacerbated by COVID-19by using the available resources at their disposal: throwing rocks, bricks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails at buildings, police precincts, and police cruisers; and by taking goods and food from major retailers such as Target and AutoZone, and then burning these and other institutions to the ground. Police have unleashed tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters in response, and the National Guard has been deployed. Although some protest in the city remains peaceful, and has spread to Memphis, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Birmingham, and other major cities, Minneapolis continues to burn.

These types of uprisings have been a nearly perennial occurrence in the United States for more than fifty years. In the month following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., black uprisings erupted in more than 125 cities, leading to 50 deaths and more than 15,000 arrests. In the years that followed (196872), at least 960 segregated black communities witnessed 2,310 separate incidents of what journalists and state security officials described as disturbances, uprisings, rebellions, melees, eruptions, or riots. As in Minneapolis today, this type of collective violence almost always started with contact between residents and the frontline representatives of the statethe policeand then quickly moved to other institutions. Indeed, following Kings murder, many black residents in cities across the United States responded to the process of criminalization and unanswered calls for greater socioeconomic inclusion by throwing rocks and punches at police officers, detonating firebombs, and plundering local stores.

With his embrace of Law and Order politics, Trump continues a long tradition of seekingto manage the material consequences of socioeconomic problemswith more police, more surveillance, and more incarceration.

Although this period of unrest remains marked in many peoples memories of the period, it was hardly the beginning of violent urban uprising by black Americans. In fact, U.S. cities had been beset with black rebellion since the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Federal policymakers and officials blamed this earlier period of disorders (and the hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage it caused) primarily on the behavior of young black men. They sought to address it as a criminal problem, launching the War on Crime and passing the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, which incentivized increased local policing and surveillance of black urban areas, as well as formal riot control training. However, a proper understanding of sixties-era urban rebellionand similar rebellions nowdepends on our ability to interpret it not as a wave of criminality, but as a period of sustained political violence.

Arguably, the success of Kings brand of nonviolent direct political actionso often valorized by pundits over and against destructive riotingdepended on the presence of this violent direct political action. As King recognized, the coercive power of mass nonviolence arose in part from its ability to suggest the possibility of violent resistance should demands not be met. Therefore, we should endeavor to see violent and nonviolent expressions of black protest as entwined forces that shaped the decade. In addition, and more challenging perhaps, we should attempt to understand violent rebellion on its own terms, as a form of direct political action that was just as integral to the decade.

It can be a struggle to imagine some of the most overpoliced, marginalized, and isolated Americans as political actors, and this bias has influenced the writing of history. Even those of us interested in forms of resistance to structural racism have been reluctant to take seriously the political nature of midcentury black uprisings. Yet they were neither spontaneous nor meaningless eruptions. Just as much as nonviolent direct action, rebellion presented a way for the oppressed and disenfranchised to express collective solidarity in the face of punitive state forces, exploitative institutions, and calcified democratic institutions.

Reviving our knowledge of midcentury violent rebellion against police and state forces also has important ramifications on how we tell the history of the rise of mass incarceration. Some scholars of the rise of the carceral state, including Michael Javen Fortner and James Forman, Jr., have recently argued that black Americans called for more police on the streets, at schools, and in housing projects. These accounts, implicitly or explicitly, suggest that black Americans championed the politics of law and order and are therefore partly to blame for the punitive turn in domestic policy. But the history of the forgotten rebellions adds another, dynamic layer and set of actors to the story of the so-called black silent majority. As much as some segments of the black middle class, political leaders, and clergy joined the clamor for law and order, many otherswho do not appear in traditional archives and many of whom were too young to votecollectively defied the legitimacy of new policing and carceral strategies.

In addition to the failure to attend to the voices of African Americans across class strata and outside of traditional archives, a crucial part of the story of how these rebellions became obscured in our memory is bureaucratic. By the late sixties, President Lyndon Johnsons Safe Streets Act and the subsequent militarization of local police effectively quashed any nascent movement of political rebellions by making them matters of local administration and pacification instead of national political crises. The legislation established an unprecedented $330 million federal investment in crime control that effectively began the process of militarizing local police forces operating in communities that seemed vulnerable to rebellion with surplus weapons from Vietnam, and training them in systematic riot control methodsa playbook that would be copied almost exactly after 9/11. The act essentially created the infrastructure and punitive apparatus to make smaller police departmentsparticularly those in deindustrializing cities with a critical mass of black residentscapable of handling uprisings on their own before they became spectacular enough to generate national media or activist attention.

Near the end of his life, King observed that social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.

Unfortunately, the unrest in Minneapolis reminds us that this legacy is still very much with us. Rather than responding to violent political rebellion with policysuch as addressing mass unemployment, failing public schools, and inhumane housing conditionspolicymakers and officials, from Richard Nixons War on Crime to the bipartisan War on Drugs to Donald Trumps embrace of Law and Order politics, have consistently sought to manage the material consequences of socioeconomic problems (e.g., urban decay and drug abuse) with more police, more surveillance, and, eventually, more incarceration. We as a nation still fail to reckon with the wisdom King prophetically offered toward the end of his life: that only social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention. There is no other answer. Constructive social change will bring certain tranquility; evasions will merely encourage turmoil.

Echoing King roughly fifty years later, Minneapolis NAACP president Leslie Raymond reflected on the citys disturbance to a reporter: We know we need systemic reform and change. So what does that look like? Resources need to be poured into the African American community. . . . The system often does it wrong, and the black community really needs to be the decision-maker at the table and be given proper resources. And as the unrest continues to unfold, City Council vice president Andrea Jenkinsthe first openly transgender black woman to be elected to public office in the United Statescalled for racism in the city to be treated as a public health emergency. Until the structural roots of collective violence are addressed as King indicated a half century ago, and Raymond and Jenkins join thousands of protesters in calling for today, spiraling tensions and distrust between police officers and the racially marginalized citizens they are charged with protecting will remain. Indeed, COVID-19 has exacerbated another deadly virus that caused Floyds death and has been killing the United States for centuries: racism.

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The Minneapolis Uprising in Context - Boston Review

Donald Trump launched a new vaccine war this month, but not against the virus. It was against the world.

TheUnited States and the UKwere the onlytwo holdoutsin the World Health Assembly from the declaration that vaccines and medicines forCovid-19 should be available as public goods, and not under exclusive patent rights. TheUnited States explicitly dissociated itself from the call for a patent pool, talking instead of the critical role that intellectual property plays in other words, patents for vaccines and medicines.

Having badly botched his Covid-19 response, President Trump is trying to redeem his fortunes for the November elections by promising an early vaccine. The 2020 version of Trumps Make America Great Again slogan is shaping up to be, in essence, vaccinesfor us but the rest of the world will have to queue up and pay what Big Pharma asks, as it will hold the patents.

In contrast, all other countries agreed with theCosta Rican proposal in the World Health Assemblythat there should be a patent pool for all Covid-19 vaccines and medicines. President Xi Jinping saidChinese vaccines would be available as a public good, a view shared by European Union leaders. Among the10 candidate vaccines in Phase 1 and 2of clinical trials, the Chinese have five, the United States has three, and the UK and Germany have one each.

Trump has given anultimatum to the World Health Organization (WHO)with a permanent withdrawal of funds if it does not mend its ways in 30 days. In sharp contrast, in the World Health Assembly (the highest decision-making body of the WHO), almost all countries, including close allies of the United States, rallied behind the WHO.

Thefailure of the US Centers for Disease Control and Preventionagainst Covid-19, with nearly four times the annual budget of the WHO, is visible to the world. The CDC failed toprovide a successful testfor SARS-CoV-2 in thecritical months of February and March, while ignoring the WHOssuccessful test kitsthat were distributed to 120 countries.

Trump has yet to hold his administration and the CDC responsible for this criminal bungling. This,more than any other failure, is the reason that Covid-19 infections in the US now number more than 1.5 million, about a third of the global total. Contrast this with China, the first to face an unknown epidemic, stopping it at 82,000 infections, and the amazing results that countriessuch as VietnamandSouth Koreahave produced.

One issue is now looming large over the Covid-19 pandemic. If we do not address the issue of intellectual-property rights, we are likely to see arepeat of the AIDS tragedy.

People died for 10 years (1994-2004)as patented AIDS medicine was priced at US$10,000 to $15,000 for a years supply, far beyond their reach. Finally,patent laws in India allowed people to get AIDS medicineat less than a dollar a day, or $350 for a years supply. Today, 80% of the worlds AIDS medicinecomes from India.

For Big Pharma, profits trumped lives, and they will continue to do so, Covid or no Covid, unless we change the world.

Most countries have compulsory licensing provisions that allow them to break patents in case of epidemics or health emergencies. Even the World Trade Organization (WTO), after a bitter fight, accepted in its Doha Declaration (2001) that in a health emergency, countries have the right to allow any company to manufacture a patented drug without the patent holders permission, and even import it from other countries.

Why is it, then, that countries are unable to break patents, even if there are provisions in their laws and in the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement? The answer is their fear of US sanctions against them.

Every year, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) issues a Special 301 Report that it has used to threaten trade sanctions against any country that tries to compulsorily license any patented product.

India figures prominentlyin this report year after year, for daring toissue a compulsory licensein 2012 to Natco, an Indian pharmaceutical company, for nexavar, a cancer drug Bayer was selling formore than $65,000 for a year of treatment. Marijn Dekkers, the chief executive of Bayer, was quoted widely that this wastheft, and We did not develop this medicine for Indians. We developed it for Western patients who can afford it.

This leaves unanswered how many people even in the affluent West can afford a $65,000 bill for an illness. But there is no question that a bill of this magnitude is a death sentence for anybody but the super-rich in countries like India. Though a number of other drugs were also under consideration for compulsory licensing at that time, India has not exercised this provision again after receiving US threats.

It is the fear that countries can break patents using their compulsory-licensing powers that led to proposals for patent pooling. The argument was that since many of these diseases do not affect rich countries, Big Pharma should either let go of their patents to such pools, or philanthropic capital should fund the development of new drugs for this pool.

Facing the Covid-19 pandemic, it is this idea of patent pooling that emerged in the recentWorld Health Assembly, WHA-73. All countries supported this proposal, barring theUnited States and its loyal camp follower, the UK.

TheUnited States also entered its disagreementon the final WHA resolution, being thelone objectorto patent pooling of Covid-19 medicines and vaccines, noting the critical role that intellectual property plays in incentivizing the development of new and improved health products.

While patent pooling is welcome if no other measure is available, it also makes it appear as if countries have no other recourse apart from the charity of big capital. What this hides, as charity always does, is that people and countries have legitimate rights even under TRIPS to break patents under conditions of an epidemic or other health emergency.

The United States, which screams murder if a compulsory license is issued by any country, has no such compunction when its own interests are threatened. During the anthrax scare in 2001, the US secretary of healthissued a threat to Bayerunder eminent domain for patents for licensing the anthrax-treatment drug ciprofloxacin to other manufacturers.

Bayer folded, and agreed to supply the quantity needed at a price that the US government had set. And without a whimper. Yes, this was the same Bayer that considers India a thief for issuing a compulsory license.

The vaccination for Covid-19 might need to be repeated each year, as we still do not know the duration of its protection. It is unlikely that a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 willprovide a lifetime immunitylike the smallpox vaccine.

Unlike AIDS, where the patient numbers were smaller and were stigmatized in different ways, Covid-19 is a visible threat for everyone. Any attempt to hold people and governments to ransom on Covid-19 vaccines or medicines could see the collapse of the entire patent edifice of TRIPS that Big Pharma, backed by the United States and major EU countries, have built.

That is why the more clever in the capitalist world have moved toward a voluntary patent pool for potential Covid-19medicines and vaccines. This means that companies or institutions holding patents on medicines, such as remdesivir, or vaccines would voluntarily hand them over to such a pool.

The terms and conditions of such a handover, meaning at concessional rates, or for only for certain regions, are still not clear, leading to criticism that a voluntary patent pool is not a substitute for declaring that all such medicines and vaccines should be designated as global public goods during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unlike clever capital, Trumps response to the Covid-19 vaccine is to bully his way through. He believes that with the unlimited money that the United States is now willing to put into the vaccine efforts, it will either beat everybody else to the winning post, orbuy the companythat issuccessful. If this strategy succeeds, he can then use his Covid-19 vaccine as a new instrument of global power. It is the United States that will then decide which countries get the vaccine (and for how much), and which ones dont.

Trump does not believe in arule-based global order, even if the rules arebiased in favorof the rich. He is walking out of variousarms-control agreementsand hascrippled the WTO. He believes that the United States, as the biggest economy and themost powerful military power, should have the untrammeled right to dictate to all countries. Threats ofbombing and invasionscan be combined withillegal unilateral sanctions and the latest weapon in his imaginary arsenal is withholding vaccines.

Trumps little problem is that the days of the United States being a sole global hegemon passed decades ago. The United States has shown itself to be afumbling giantand its epidemicresponse shambolic. It has been unable to provide virus tests to its people in time, and failed to stop the epidemic through containment/mitigation measures, which a number of other countries have done.

Chinaand theEUhave already agreed that any vaccine developed by them will be regarded as a public good. Even without that, once a medicine or a vaccine is known to be successful, any country with a reasonable scientific infrastructure can replicate the medicine or the vaccine, and manufacture it locally.

India in particular has one of thelargest generic drug and vaccinemanufacturing capacities in the world. What prevents India, or any country for that matter, from manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines or drugs once they are developed only the empty threat of a failed hegemon on breaking patents?

This article was produced in partnership byNewsclickandGlobetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute, which provided it to Asia Times.

Prabir Purkayasthais the founding editor ofNewsclick.in, a digital media platform. He is an activist for science and the Free Software movement.

Asia Times Financialis now live. Linking accurate news, insightful analysis and local knowledge with the ATF China Bond 50 Index, the world'sfirst benchmark cross sector Chinese Bond Indices.Read ATFnow.

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US declares a vaccine war on the world - Asia Times

Its easy to feel powerless reading the news at the moment, especially when it comes to the issue of racial injustice. But there are ways to help, including signing petitions launched by Change.org and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Another positive step? Educating yourself about the history of systemic racism within America and, indeed, the world. Below, a reading list to help you better understand the context of the protests following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man who died in custody after an officer from the Minneapolis Police Department stood on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.

Numerous quotes by the pioneering activist Angela Davis have gone viral on social media in the wake of George Floyds tragic death but there is far more to be learned from the Black Power icon than can be contained in an Instagram post. Start with Freedom Is A Constant Struggle (2016), which compiles her thoughts and essays on everything from the legacy of Apartheid to the nature of the Ferguson protests and the many ways in which racism has clouded feminist thought through the years.

Structural racism is by no means a problem limited to the US as Reni Eddo-Lodge makes clear in her seminal Why Im No Longer Talking To White People About Race. The title is lifted from Eddo-Lodges own viral blog post from 2014, in which she famously declared that she had had enough of trying to reason with white people who were living a life oblivious to the fact that their skin colour is the norm and all others deviate from it. The full work expands on this concept picking apart the insidious nature of white privilege in minute detail and mapping the ramifications of racial bias in the UK, from slavery through to the lynch mobs that swept across key British cities following the First World War.

A classic of the Civil Rights Movement, The Fire Next Time is divided into two parts: one is a letter written to Baldwins 14-year-old nephew on the 100th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, and the other is a powerful reflection on the authors formative years in Harlem. While it captures Baldwins entirely justified anger at the state of the nation in the 1960s, its also, in many ways, a hopeful and galvanising read. If we and I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of others do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world.

In addition to her powerful novels Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing, National Book Award-winner Jesmyn Ward is also the author of a gut-wrenching memoir, Men We Reaped, which recounts the deaths of five young black men in her life over as many years men pinioned beneath poverty and history and racism. The title is a nod to a verse written by abolitionist Harriet Tubman following a Civil War battle in which countless African-American soldiers died: We heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.

As a reporter for The Washington Post, Wesley Lowery spent much of President Obamas second term in office travelling from city to city, covering the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers, including Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray. They Cant Kill Us All begins with his own aggressive arrest during the Ferguson protests after allegedly failing to disperse quickly enough when police officers cleared out a McDonalds then goes on to recount the evolution of the Black Lives Matter movement from the front lines. In short, its essential reading right now.

Written by a United Nations diplomat turned Indian National Congress MP in New Delhi, Inglorious Empire firmly discounts any romantic notions of colonisation in taking India as its subject. Published in the immediate aftermath of Brexit, it documents the systematic subjugation of a country whose share of the world economy at the start of the 18th century was 23 per cent, a figure which had plummeted to 3 per cent by the time the British left. As Britain reassesses its imperial fantasies, this book is an urgent read.

Toni Morrisons Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece encapsulates the collective, refracted trauma felt by slaves and their descendants. Inspired by a true story reported in the American Baptist in 1856, the novel centres on Sethe, a slave mother who has ostensibly escaped from the fictional Sweet Home plantation to live in the free state of Ohio, but is haunted, literally and metaphorically, by the ghosts of her tragic past. As she says, Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another. Consider it a testament to the power of the novel form, and a lesson in radical empathy.

As Ava DuVernay pointed out in her brilliant documentary 13th (now available to stream on Netflix), the American Constitutions 13th Amendment outlaws slavery except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander reflects on the many ways in which this loophole has been exploited tracing how and why the number of prisoners in America rose from roughly 300,000 to more than 2 million between the 1980s and 2010. Her central thesis: that the so-called war on drugs launched by President Reagan ultimately emerged as a stunningly comprehensive and well-designed system of racialised social control that functions in a manner strikingly similar to Jim Crow. Note: at the close of 2019, a staggering 4.7 per cent of all black millennial men in the US were incarcerated, according to research conducted by The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality.

I write you in your fifteenth year, Ta-Nehisi Coates notes at the beginning of this extended letter to his son. I am writing you because this was the year you saw Eric Garner choked to death for selling cigarettes; because you know now that Renisha McBride was shot for seeking help, that John Crawford was shot down for browsing in a department store. And you have seen men in uniform drive by and murder Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old child whom they were oath-bound to protect. And you have seen men in the same uniforms pummel Marlene Pinnock, someones grandmother, on the side of the road. And you know now, if you did not before, that the police departments of your country have been endowed with the authority to destroy your body. What follows this heartbreaking declaration is a nuanced analysis of racisms centrality to American life and, critically, a study of the development of the fictional notion of whiteness.

Edited by the British journalist Nikesh Shukla, this crowdfunded book of essays includes submissions from Reni Eddo-Lodge, Riz Ahmed, and Vinay Patel, amongst others, with unique perspectives on deeply ingrained racist attitudes in the UK. Sparked by a comment underneath one of his articles on the Guardian, Shukla was inspired to write a progressive book about race issues in Britain. I was sick of the assumption that whenever people of colour get an opportunity its not because of our skill or merit, he has said, of conceiving of the project. Centring on the binary that a good immigrant is symbolised by a BAME-background Olympic gold medallist, and a bad immigrant is written off as a benefits-scrounger, the book, which Shukla describes as a document of what it means to be a person of colour now, explores the constant anxiety at the heart of the immigrant experience.

Of all the millions transported from Africa to the Americas, only one man is left. He is called Cudjo Lewis and is living at present at Plateau, Alabama, a suburb of Mobile. This is the story of this Cudjo. So begins Zora Neale Hurstons Barracoon, a compilation of interviews between the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God and the last known survivor of the Middle Passage in 1927. Interwoven with Cudjos own story preserved in his lyrical dialect are Hurstons endearing reports of trying to get him to speak to her: appearing on his doorstep with baskets of Georgia peaches and a box of Bee Brand insect powder to get rid of mosquitoes. A phenomenally important and deeply rewarding book.

I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own, declared Audre Lorde during a keynote talk in Connecticut in 1981. And I am not free as long as one person of colour remains chained. Nor is any one of you. Every work by the self-proclaimed black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet deserves to be read more than once but this compilation of her greatest speeches and writings is a powerful introduction to this revolutionary voice.

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12 Essential Books To Read Following The Death Of George Floyd - British Vogue